The top 20
The collectors who really matter to the history of art are not necessarily the very richest or even the most acquisitive. They are those who by their example set standards for others, encourage interest in the art they collect and share their treasures with the public. In short, the collectors of greatest importance are those who wield the greatest influence. Martin Bailey presents Apollo’s list of the 20 most influential collectors today.
Martin Bailey, Saturday, 28th June 2008
Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller – Tribal Art
Nationality: Swiss
Age: 77
Source of wealth: Property
Josef Mueller began a collection of tribal art in the 1930s and, after his death in 1977, it was developed by his son-in-law Jean Paul Barbier. That year, Jean Paul and his wife, Monique, opened the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, to present a changing selection of works in focused exhibitions (Fig. 2). They now have 7,000 objects, making it the world’s greatest private collection of tribal art, which is particularly strong on Africa and Oceania. In 1997 the couple opened a second museum in Barcelona, for Pre-Columbian works.
Ernst Beyeler – 20th-century painting and sculpture
Nationality: Swiss
Age: 86
Source of wealth: Art dealer
Initially Ernst Beyeler and his wife, Hildy, kept works they particularly liked that had failed to sell in their gallery, but they soon bought especially for their personal collection. The couple eventually decided to set up a public gallery at Riehen, on the northern outskirts of Basel, and the elegant Renzo Piano-designed building opened in 1997. The emphasis of the collection is on the first half of the 20th century, although it does have more recent works. There are 220 pieces by the great masters of modern art, with Picasso and Klee particularly well represented. The Beyeler Foundation has nearly 400,000 visitors a year, more than any other gallery in German-speaking Switzerland. One third of the space is for temporary exhibitions (currently Léger – see Apollo’s June issue), with the remainder for the foundation’s collection. Despite his age, Beyeler continues to run his commercial gallery in Basel.
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