At the Orangerie, Picasso and Klee are exhibited above all, the two painters that this great gallery owner admired more than anything. The art dealer was crazy about Picasso and owned dozens and dozens of them, from all periods. With masterpieces that can be found at the exhibition like its Large reclining nude from 1942, with dark colors like Paris was under the Occupation. Picasso then returned to a marked Cubist vocabulary, with a fractured treatment of the classical theme of the nude and his dark palette reflected the horrors of war. Berggruen, who bought it in 1997, emphasized that it is “a severe painting, not easy to live with” but which it is important for him to show to the German public.
Immerse yourself in a cyclone of Picasso drawings at the Center Pompidou
We also admire at the Orangerie the Dora Maar with green nails from 1936 by Picasso with his claw-like fingers and menacing beauty. It is said that it was this painting that fascinated the Asian public above all during the first stages of the Berggruen collection's journey.
Cezanne
We also find a study by Picasso for The young ladies of Avignon (1907), particularly radical in its “billhook” treatment of the face, and placed next to the completely different Portrait of Madame Cézanne (1885) by Paul Cézanne. Heinz Berggruen wanted at all costs to acquire this magnificent Cézanne and then offer it to his wife.
Heinz Berggruen held a major place on the art market in the second half of the 20th century. Born into a Jewish family in Berlin in 1914, he left Germany for the United States in 1936 due to Nazi persecution, for Berkeley and had a brief affair with Frida Kahlo.
He settled permanently in Paris after the Second World War. He opened his gallery there on rue de l'Université, specializing in graphic works by modern artists. Over the course of his career, he became closer to the artists of his time and became a passionate collector himself. Around 1980, buoyed by his success, he devoted himself fully to bringing together his favorite masters. “My collection began in a very modest way, as modestly as my gallery, before becoming, over the years, a passion. Later, I had the impression that my gallery was only a pretext to expand my collection Little by little, I became my “best customer”.he writes in his memoirs.
gullLittle by little, I became my “best customer”.
In 2000, Berggruen, after a life spent between the United States and France, handed over his collection to the German state. In 2004, the building in Berlin which houses his collection was officially renamed Museum Berggruen.
In 1940, he bought his first work, a drawing by Paul Klee: Ghostly perspective (1920). He will continue to support Klee's work and purchase it. The last room of the exhibition is entirely devoted to a Klee exhibition.
Paul Klee, the exhibition event at the Center Pompidou
In Paris, with his gallery, he was the first to exhibit Matisse's paper cutouts. We see at the Orangery, a beautiful Blue nude, rope jumper (1952). Matisse, another artist very present at the exhibition.
Giacometti is also, as much by his filiform cat as by a tall woman standing and At Place with small characters wandering around.
To buy his favorite artists, he sold his Seurat, Van Gogh, Miro and Soulages. Berggruen returned to live in Berlin in 1996 to open his museum there.
Note that Nicolas Berggruen, the son of Heinz Berggruen, opened the Palazzo Diedo in Venice in 2024, a new place dedicated to contemporary art.
Heinz Berggruen, an art dealer and his collection, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, until January 27.
