Gauguin, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet, Chagall, Picasso?some of the finest works by the greatest artists of the 20th century were collected by two Swiss art patrons, Rudolf Staechelin (1881?1946) and Karl Im Obersteg (1849?1926). They were successful businessmen, and friends, and inspired by the art of their times, actively purchased works by modernist artists. Published on the occasion of a major international exhibition, 'Gauguin to Picasso: Masterworks from Switzerland' features over 60 celebrated paintings from their collections by 22 world-famous artists. Masterpieces include Paul Gauguin's Nafea faa ipoipo (When will you Marry?) (1892), which was recently sold for US$300 million? the highest price ever paid for an artwork?Vincent van Gogh's Daubigny's Garden (1890), Picasso's double-sided canvas Femme dans la loge / Buveuse d'absinthe (1901) and Marc Chagall's three monumental Rabbi portraits. Other extraordinary paintings by artists of international stature include Swiss masters Ferdinand Hodler and Cunio Amiet, Russian expressionist painter Alexej Jawlensky, and works by Edouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Amedeo Modigliani, Georges Rouault and Wassily Kandinsky. AUTHOR: Dorothy Kosinski is the director of The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC Hans-Joachim Muller is an art critic at the German paper Die Zeit and the culture editor at Basler Zeitung 174 colour illustrations
