A $5 million gift has been made to the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh in support of Carnegie Museum of Art's ongoing Carnegie International exhibitions, including the 55th edition that opens May 3.

The gift from The Fine Foundation, led by Carnegie Museums Trustee Emeritus Milton Fine, is the largest ever in support of the Carnegie International. The globally prestigious forum for contemporary art and ideas was instituted by Andrew Carnegie and was first held in 1896.

Richard Armstrong, The Henry J. Heinz II Director of Carnegie Museum of Art, said it's relatively rare to have an endowed exhibition. He believes, for example, that the Whitney Biennial, an exhibition of contemporary American art at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, has no endowment.

"The gift offers great continuity and momentum for The International in the future," Mr. Armstrong said.

The Fine Foundation gift will provide for the creation of the Fine Prize, which will be awarded to an emerging artist from each International. The International already offers the Carnegie Prize, which Armstrong said recognizes "outstanding achievement in the exhibition in the context of a lifetime of work. The Fine Prize will complement the Carnegie Prize."

The gift places the Carnegie Museums within $4.5 million of a $150 million capital campaign launched in 2002.

Mr. Fine, a longtime hotel investor who sold Green Tree-based Interstate Hotels Corp. in 1998 for $2.1 billion, has been associated with the Carnegie Museums for more than 25 years.