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Rudolph Nureyev was a preeminent ballet dancer and choreographer, often described as "ballet's first pop icon." He defected from the Soviet Union in 1961, becoming a media sensation in the West. Nureyev developed friendships with many celebrities and artists throughout the 1960s and 70s, including Jamie Wyeth, for whom he was a regular portrait subject even after Nureyev's death in 1993. In 2001, Sotheby's auctioned off a collection of Nureyev's personal effects formerly owned by his longtime personal assistant, Joan Thring; these included Nureyev's travel documents and government papers, mementos and correspondence, and dance costumes. Wyeth purchased several lots from the auction and sold them to the Brandywine Museum in 2006, along with 20 pieces of art he had created of Nureyev.

Notable items within the collection purchased and sold by Wyeth include two of Nureyev's refugee travel documents (also called 1951 Convention travel documents), which were issued to refugees or others considered "stateless" and unable to obtain passports from their country of origin. The collection also includes many original photographs of Nureyev with Margot Fonteyn and Erik Bruhn, telegrams and correspondence from Bruhn and Nureyev's family, a collection of drawings and letters sent to Nureyev by a class of school children (one student writes, "My teacher said that you have beautiful muscles!"), and traced sketches of Nureyev drawn by actress Marlene Dietrich. The ballet costume and slippers, originally purchased with the collection at auction, were separated from the paper materials and are housed with the museum’s fine art collections.