VIENNA.- The Albertina Museum is devoting its spring exhibition of 2020 to one of the most important private collections of French modernist art. The Hahnloser Collection came together between 1905 and 1936, initially on the basis of close and friendly exchange between the collecting couple of Arthur and Hedy Hahnloser-Bühler and artist-friends including Pierre Bonnard, Ferdinand Hodler, Henri Matisse, and Félix Vallotton. Later on, the collection also came to include works by their predecessors including Cézanne, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, and others.

Today, this immense collection contains one-of-a-kind work groups—including paintings, sculptures, and works on paper—from Swiss and French modernism, including such prominent works as Bonnard’s Reflection, or the Tub (1909), Cézanne’s Portrait of the Artist (1877/78), Van Gogh’s The Sower and The Night Café in Arles (1888), Vallotton’s The White and the Black (1913), and Maillol’s sculpture Pomona . The lion’s share of this collection is now owned by the couple’s descendants and the Hahnloser/Jaeggli Foundation, as well as by the fine art museums of Winterthur and Bern following generous donations.

For Arthur and Hedy Hahnloser, collecting was a source of meaning in life—and they also actively involved those around them. They conceived of their collection, staged as a total work of art at their Villa Flora in Winterthur, as a “teaching museum”. The Hahnlosers motivated friends and relatives to purchase works by the artists whom they favored and also helped these artists to become well known by gifting their works to private collectors and Swiss art museums. This “Hahnloser Principle” was of enormous benefit to Swiss museum collections and their acquisition policies, and it was frequently the case that these donations marked the founding moments of what would later become large modern art collections.

The Albertina Museum’s exhibition presents an overview of this internationally unique collection of modern art, with works on loan from the fine art museums Kunstmuseum Bern and Kunst Museum Winterthur additionally serving to illuminate this collection’s exemplary cultural policy aspect.

The Albertina Museum’s exhibition presents some eighty works from the collection, which originally comprised 500 paintings, works on paper, and sculptures. They are complemented by works that entered the art museums of Winterthur and Bern as Hahnloser donations. At the ALBERTINA Museum, the Hahnloser Collection has entered into a dialog with our museum’s own holdings, which have been integrated into the exhibition in the form of a selection of around twenty-five works.

Collection
There are no state-owned collections in Switzerland and thus there is no national gallery. Today’s Switzerland was founded in 1848 as a confederate state; this is why collecting art has been left to private collectors and local museums. It is thus the citizens who have set the tone. Around 1906, a number of young art enthusiasts consequently took the lead on the board of the Winterthur Kunstverein, which had been founded in 1848. Among their protagonists were Arthur Hahnloser and Hedy Hahnloser-Bühler, who together with Hedy’s cousin Richard Bühler and the brothers Oskar and Georg Reinhart kicked off Winterthur’s “glorious decade.”

Between 1910 and 1920, some of the most prominent Swiss private collections were established, including the Hahnloser Collection; all of them had a crucial impact on the compilation of modern art collections at Swiss museums.

The Hahnloser Collection is one of the principal Swiss private collections of twentiethcentury art. Comprising works by Manet, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, and Toulouse-Lautrec, it represents the beginnings of modern art in Europe; holding works by Hodler and Vallotton, it has a very personal and typically Swiss touch. Moreover, it reflects a preference for the Nabis and for the Fauves’ colorful expressionism, as well as its collectors’ willingness to enthusiastically follow the artists on their paths.

The Hahnloser Collection was compiled within a relatively short period of time—namely between 1907 and 1936—and through a close exchange with its artists. This aspect has decisively influenced and shaped the appearance of the collection. What makes it so captivating are its comprehensive groups of works by artists like Bonnard, Matisse, and Vallotton—a selection that is due to a deep and loyal attachment to artists who were also dear friends.

Initially, Arthur and Hedy Hahnloser only collected for their own home, the Villa Flora in Winterthur. However, by commissioning works and making donations to museums, and by vehemently standing up for “their artists,” they also promoted knowledge of European modernism in Switzerland. It was thanks to their donations to Swiss museums that in 1916 the Winterthur Kunst Museum was in a position to present itself as the first public collection of French modern art in Switzerland; the art museums of Bern and Zurich followed in its footsteps. This intertwining of private and public collecting is still known today as the “Hahnloser Principle.”

After Hedy Hahnloser’s death in 1952 the collection went to her children, Hans and Lisa. Today a major part is held by the Hahnloser/Jaeggli Foundation, which was founded in 1980; an equal number of works is still privately owned by the family. In 2018, the Villa Flora was donated to the canton of Zurich; in 2022 it will be made accessible to the public as a third venue of the Winterthur Kunst Museum.