"Even if such works may legally be owned by an individual, in a higher sense they belong to everyone, their owner is their only custodian." - Oskar Reinhart.
In the autumn of last year I was fortunate enough to see a significant part of the Heinz Berggruen Collection in Paris (here) whilst its usual home in Berlin was being renovated. Similarly the home of the Oskar Reinhart collection found in Switzerland is undergoing refurbishment work and part of their collection has travelled to London for a short while. Despite sold out tickets I was again fortunate enough to get to see highlights from this smaller private collection of art closer to home at the Courtauld Gallery. Goya to Impressionism. Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection, is a small but significant holding of paintings from a certain period in art history. The collection is based at the museum and villa of Am Römerholz in Winterthur near Zurich, and it is the first time that a major group of works from that museum has been shown outside of Switzerland. The choice of the Courtauld to display these works is fitting as they seamlessly complement the Courtauld's own collection of Impressionist works and there are certain parallels between the lives of both Oskar Reinhart (1885-1965) and Samuel Courtauld (1876-1947). Both men had a mutual admiration for the works of Cézanne, Manet and Van Gogh and both held paintings by artist Honoré Daumier depicting the fictional character Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, both of which can be seen with a visit to this temporary exhibition and the permanent collection. Courtauld and Reinhart actually met in 1932 and shared the view that ultimately the purpose of their collections was that they be shared with the public. The exhibition opens with a very realistic painted trio of salmon steaks by Goya which can be read as a bloody allegory of the cost in lives of the Peninsuar War. Next we have a turbulent Courbet painting of crashing waves created with a palette knife, and an erotic, languorous portrait of a woman in a hammock also by Courbet which was regarded as too controversial and subsequently rejected by the French Academy of the day. The second room of the exhibition contained my favourite works. There were the two paintings by Van Gogh from the time of his stay in the asylum at Arles one of which was seen in London only recently at the National Gallery's amazing Van Gogh Poets and Lovers exhibition (here), both of which are beautifully complemented by his Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889, from the same period seen in the next room in the Courtauld's permanent collection. Manet's Au Cafe, 1878, was another painting I particularly liked which was cut in two by Manet shortly after its completion as he was unhappy with the composition of the painting. The other half of the work - Corner of a Café-Concert, 1878-80, is now in the National Gallery just along the Strand. What a shame they couldn't have reunited the two canvases specifically for this exhibition. Apart from this Monet's The Break-Up of Ice on the Seine, 1880-81, is worthy of a mention and an important predecessor to his later waterlily series. There are a couple of lovely Cézanne landscapes, and an early Picasso Blue Period portrait which also stand out. My favourite piece from the Oskar Reinhart collection though, was Toulouse Lautrec's The Clown Cha-U-Kao, 1895, depicting a larger than life cabaret performer at the Moulin Rouge, full of colour and character adopting an easy, self-confident pose. Although not as extensive or comprehensive as the Berggruen or Shchukin collections, there were nevertheless several fairly important paintings in the Oskar Reinhart collection that I was more than happy to have to have made the acquaintance of on their brief stay here in the capital.
