The Oskar Reinhart Collection in Winterthur, Switzerland, is one of the most remarkable art museums of its kind, with a collection that ranges from superlative old master paintings and drawings to an exceptional group of Impressionist art
The works were assembled in the first half of the 20th century by Oskar Reinhart (1885-1965). Reinhart bequeathed his collection and house to the Swiss confederation, which opened as public museum in 1970 in his beautiful, large villa on the outskirts of Winterthur, close to Zurich, called ‘Am Römerholz’.
For the first time in its history, a rich array of highlights from the Reinhart collection will be displayed outside Switzerland, making this exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery a unique opportunity to see some of its masterpieces.
The exhibition will feature major paintings by artists of the generation preceding the Impressionists, such as Goya, Géricault and Courbet, but will focus especially on Reinhart’s extraordinary collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works.
At its heart will be some of the greatest paintings of these movements, including Manet’s groundbreaking depiction of modern life Au Café, Toulouse-Lautrec’s striking representation of the female performer Clown Cha-U-Kao, and a group of exceptional works by Cezanne.
A further highlight is the pair of celebrated paintings by Van Gogh of the hospital in Arles where he had been a patient following his earlier mental breakdown and the mutilation of his ear, as seen in The Courtauld’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear. The Reinhart collection has close affinities with that of The Courtauld, which provides the perfect context to stage this unprecedented exhibition.
