The Courtauld Gallery, located in the historic Somerset House, houses one of the UK’s greatest art collections. It is particularly known for its Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, as well as being at the forefront of the study of art and will now showcase a rich array of highlights from the Oskar Reinhart Collection for the first time outside of Switzerland.
Oskar Reinhart (1885-1965) the son of a dynasty of traders fulfilled his passion aged thirty-nine to become a full-time art collector. At his villa, Am Römerholz, in Winterthur, just outside of Zurich, his collection would become one of the most remarkable of its kind featuring over 200 paintings ranging from superlative Old Masters to an exceptional group of Impressionist paintings. The collection was assembled in the first half of the 20th century and features some of the greatest Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, as well as major paintings by artists who preceded the Impressionists.
From Goya To Impressionism showcases twenty-five works presented across two rooms. The exhibition opens with a selection of major paintings by artists such as Francisco Goya, Still Life with Three Salmon Steaks, c. 1808-12and Gericault’s moving A Man Suffering from Delusions of Military Rank, c. 1819-22. the heart of the show is an exceptional display of some of the greatest paintings of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism from artists such as: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Lily and Greenhouse Plants, 1864; Edouard Manet, Au café, 1878; Paul Cezanne, Still Life with Faience Jug and Fruit, c. 1900; Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Clown Cha-U-Kao, 1895; and Claude Monet, The Break up of Ice on the Seine, 1880-81. A highlight of the exhibition is the pair of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, A Ward in the Hospital at Arles, 1889 and The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles, 1889, illustrating where he had been a patient following an earlier mental breakdown and the mutilation of his ear. This is the first time the two paintings are presented together.
From the left: Vincent van Gogh, The Courtyard of the Hospital in Arles, 1889 and
Vincent van Gogh, A Ward in the Hospital at Arles, 1889. Images: The Swiss Confederation, Federal Office of Culture, Oskar Reinhart Collection “Am Römerholz”, Winterthur.
The much talked about Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto, 1901 by Pablo Picasso during his early Blue Period depicts the eponymously named sculptor, a friend of the young Picasso at the time, is also said to reveal another figure beneath the surface providing further insight into the process of the painter’s work during this pivotal time in his life. A stand-out for me is Gustave Courbet’s, The Wave, 1870. Painted at Etretat on the Normandy coast, his ability to convey the vast expanse of stormy sky and sea with waves breaking on the shore is both moody signifying violence and destruction, but also creation and renewal.
Reinhart was a direct contemporary of Samuel Courtauld, founder of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and they shared similar tastes in artists. The Reinhart Collection’s close affinities with that of the Courtauld Gallery’s permanent collection, therefore, provides the perfect context to stage this unique collaboration, unprecedented cultural exchange, and remarkable exhibition, bringing together two prestigious collections for a unique celebration of European art. Not to be missed.
Goya to Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection
14th February -26th May 2025
The Courtauld Gallery
Somerset House, Strand
London WC2R ORN
www.courtauld.ac.uk
Author: Linda Hunting
Leading image: Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Faience Jug and Fruit, c. 1900. Image: The Swiss Confederation, Federal Office of Culture, Oskar Reinhart Collection “Am Römerholz”, Winterthur.
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