1. Sculpture corridor: Aristide Maillol, La Mediterranée, 1905-07, Limestone,
114 x 78 x 197,5cm, © Oskar Reinhart Collection "Am Römerholz", Winterthur
It's a little gem, a little secret place with an important art collection: the Oskar Reinhart Collection presents the collection of Oskar Reinhart, a child of an old family of Winterhtur who developed over several generations an important trade company, which his father Theodor Reinhart (1849-1919) developed.
With most of his money coming from his company, he had the chance to live a comfortable life and create an impressive collection of impressionist art and old masters ranging from the early works of Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Edouard Manet or Francisco de Goya. In 1958, he decided to give to the Swiss Confederation his residence "Am Römerholz" and his priceless collection, which is now a museum you can visit since the 1970s.
Oskar Reinhart (1885-1965): the collector
Oskar Reinhart was born in Winterthur (Switzerland) in one of the riches families of the city. His father, Theodor Reinhart (1849-1919) was one of the founders of the firm "Volkart Brothers", a company which was founded in 1851 by his wife family in Winterthur, along the lake of Constance and in Bombay (which was under the government of the United Kingdom). The goal of this company was to trade the cotton produced in India and to sell it in Europe and in the world, but also to position Switzerland as one of the leaders of the textile industry due to the introduction of new mechanised machines.
This local trading economy will profit the city of Winterthur and the family and helped them create a longlasting trade route, and beside the business a tradition of collecting art. His father, Theodor will already collect old masters, but Oskar will more or less focus on impressionist artworks. But due to the First World War and the industrialisation of the fabric making industry, his collection was boost after the war and most of its works will be bought during the 1920s and the 1930s.
At the age of 39, he decided to withdraw from the family business, and he devotes himself to collecting art. To do so, he had to buy a place to exhibits his work, thus he bought the "Am Römerholz" villa, which from the start planned to give it to the country and the city of Winterthur, as well as its collection.
2. Large Gallery © Oskar Reinhart Collection "Am Römerholz", Winterthur
The Villa "Am Römerholz"
and it's expansion
While Oskar Reinhart acquired the villa in 1924, a year later he already asks to add an important picture gallery to present and display its collection. But compared to the historic house, the picture gallery is made without any details, any furnitures, it's a kind of "white wall" room, with high sealings and natural light.
Oskar's collection
Goya, Cranach, Delacroix, Corot, Daumier, Courbet, Manet, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh or Maillol are all parted of the collection reunited by the family Reinhart. While the older works of the museum are mostly presented in the historic Villa designed by Turettini due to the smaller size of the rooms and the charm of the furnitures, the impressionist collection is assembled in the picture gallery.
When he started his collection, he got inspired by a lot of Americans and German collections and collectors such as Clay Frick (1849-1919), in New York, who amassed a collection of old masters and impressionist art, but not like Frick, at the time as Oskar Reinhart started collecting, impressionist was an established and important art movement, thus the prices and the rarity of the works became higher.
Most of the works he acquired between the two words wars, and especially in Germany. For him, those impressionist acquisition are the most important because those artists defined a new genre where light, shape and movement were so different to what happened before. He also adored old masters pictures due to painterly qualities, and as precursors of modern art, especially with works from Goya and El Greco.
The arrangement of those pictures in the museum reflects his choice and his juxtaposition, which he made himself. Here he mixed old and new, the hanging explored correspondences of form and colour between earlier and modern works.
And my favourites...
3. (Top Left) Domínikos Thetokópoulos, called El Greco,
Portrait of a Cardinal, c. 1600-14, Oil on canvas
4. (Top Right) Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Jug and Fruit, c.1890, Oil on canvas
5. (Bellow) Édouard Manet, Au café, 1878, Oil on canvas
From the works which are currently exhibited in this collector's house, this is my top three. First, a lesser known part of this collection focus on old masters works, and this work by El Greco titled "Portrait of a Cardinal" might present the Cardinal Don Fernando Nino de Guevera (1541-1609), one of Spain's most eminent figures. While El Greco represented him in the picture "Portrait of a Cardinal" (The MET collection), we are not sure that this picture is a study of this important work or another seater.
On the other hand, the still life of Paul Cézanne titled "Still Life with Jug and Fruit" is one on the most unique still life of the artist I ever saw. First, its size is quite intriguing when you think about the ratio between the painted part of the canvas and the grey background of the canvas, left untouched by the artist.
Finally, this icon of Édouard Manet, which is quite rare to see in Swiss museums represent a scene which was present in a bigger canvas of the artist, which Manet or his gallerist cut up to create more works, thus the second part of the work is in the collection of the National Gallery of London: " Corner of a Café Concert" (1878-1880).
Informations about the collection
Place: Oskar Reinhart "Am Römerholz"
Ticket: Available at the front desk of the museum
Informations about the collection of Oskar Reinhart "Am Römerholz"
Collection Oskar Reinhart "Am Römerholz"
SHaldenStrasse 95
CH-8400 Winterthour
Phone: +41 58 466 77 40
Fax: +41 58 466 77 44
Mail: sor@bak.admin.ch