- Heinz Berggruen
Heinz Berggruen (
January 5 ,1914 -February 23 ,2007 ) was a Germanart dealer and collector who founded the Berggruen Museum [ [http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/smb/sammlungen/details.php?objID=22&lang=en Berggruen Museum - Homepage] ] inBerlin , Germany.He was born in Berlin on 5 January 1914 and died in Paris on 23 February 2007. He immigrated to the United States in 1936 and studied at
Berkeley University . In 1939 he became an "Assistant director" at theSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art . In preparing an exhibition about the Mexican painterDiego Rivera he metFrida Kahlo , too, and had a short love affair with her.After the
Second World War he got acquainted withPablo Picasso in Paris, who spontaneously had confidence in Berggruen and so he became Picasso's art dealer. In 1996, after 60 years in exile, he returned to Germany and opened an art museum in front of theCharlottenburg Palace . Berggruen left his precious art collection in a generous gesture of a low price to thePrussian Cultural Heritage Foundation . For this he was awarded the honorary citizenship of Berlin and the "Federal Cross of Merit (Grand Cross 2nd Class)" of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz , "Großes Verdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterband").Berggruen's children include
John Berggruen , owner of theJohn Berggruen Gallery in San Francisco;Olivier Berggruen , curator at theKunsthalle called "Schirn" in Frankfurt; andNicolas Berggruen , a self-made multi-billionaire known for an eccentric and generally low-key lifestyle, with few personal possessions, he has no immediate family, home or car. [ [http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-nicolas-berggruen-080519-ht,0,6389379.story "Nicolas Berggruen"] , Chicago Tribune, May 20, 2008]External links
* [http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/smb/sammlungen/details.php?objID=22&lang=en Berggruen Museum]
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2311325.ece Obituary] inThe Independent (UK), 28 February 2007
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/arts/design/27berggruen.html?ex=1330232400&en=eb65f79ac34cc647&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss „Heinz Berggruen, Influential Picasso Collector, Dies at 93“] ,New York Times , February 27, 2007References
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