Heinz Berggruen or the Power of Intuition
Heinz Berggruen (1914-2007) was a truly unique art historian and dealer. Born in Berlin, he left Nazi Germany in 1936; studied literature and art history in France —first in Grenoble and later at the University of Toulouse—; wrote for the Frankfurter Zeitung, in which he signed with his initials to avoid anti-Semitic laws; left for California, and finally settled back in France, opening a gallery on Rue Dauphine in Paris in 1948. He lived next door to Simone Signoret and Yves Montand, to whom he handed over his space before moving to 70 Rue de l'Université. It was through Tristan Tzara that Heinz Berggruen met Picasso. The painter was finishing a set of lithographs to illustrate the poet's piece De mémoire d’homme.[1] Tzara, with Picasso's approval, was looking for a gallery in which to show them, and ended up taking Berggruen to the artist's studio.
Berggruen focused his efforts on graphic work, and particularly that of Picasso; over the years, he became a passionate collector and fine connoisseur of the artist's output. His was one of the most prominent galleries in Paris, known for its outstanding exhibitions and for what at the time was the unusually careful attention paid to the publication of each catalog. He developed contacts among the Paris cultural scene, meeting the artists as well as the poets, dealers, historians, critics and collectors of his time. Aside from the small catalogs he published for his exhibitions, Berggruen tried his hand at art publishing, and historians agree on the boldly experimental originality of his books devoted to Picasso. The publisher pursued an "intimate" exploration of the painter's intellectual and artistic path. Books became one of the elements in the creative process, which interested Berggruen as much as the outcome, and this unique approach to the artistic pursuit allowed for a detailed analysis of the artist's work.
Later on, in 1957, on Dora Maar's initiative and with Picasso's consent, Berggruen produced a facsimile edition of the exceptional Histoire naturelle by Buffon, illustrated by Picasso and commissioned by Ambroise Vollard in 1936, which the painter had given to his partner in January 1943 after enhancing it for her with forty-two India ink and wash drawings. A Prévert-like inventory of a highly personal bestiary, it reveals the artist's virtuosity on every page.[2]
Driven by his intuition, Heinz Berggruen assembled a considerable collection of twentieth-century works, particularly by Picasso. According to Philippe Dagen,[3] "other collectors owned or still own major paintings and admirable drawings by the Spanish artist, but none had the necessary passion, perseverance, and ability for finding and acquiring enough paintings, drawings, collages, and sculptures to present Picasso's entire life, from his beginnings to his final years." He also owned pieces by Cézanne, Seurat, Van Gogh, Braque, Laurens, and Giacometti, and showed an interest in primitive art.
In the museum that bears his name in Berlin and houses part of his collection (he donated a dozen works by Klee to the Musée national d'art moderne in 1972, and another 90 pieces to the Metropolitan Museum in New York!), opposite Charlottenburg Palace, "the many visitors hardly noticed the old gentleman who always sat near the entrance: Heinz Berggruen, who, after having enjoyed his paintings so, delighted almost daily in seeing others enjoy them too."[4]
[1] Tristan Tzara. De mémoire d'homme, poem. Lithographs by Pablo Picasso. Paris, Bordas, 1950.
[2] On this subject, see Picasso/Berggruen, une collection particulière, Anne Baldassari, «Fac similés», Flammarion RMN, 2006.
[3] Philippe Dagen, "Un monde stupéfiant et inédit", Le Monde, September 23, 2006.
[4] Harry Bellet, "Heinz Berggruen, marchand d'art", Le Monde, February 26, 2007
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Summary