Vivien Reuter
Heinz Berggruen: Life and Legend
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Summary
When Heinz Berggruen died in 2007 at the age of 93, he was extolled as a great art collector, philanthropist, and monument to German-Jewish reconciliation, not to mention lover of Frida Kahlo, close friend of Picasso, and cultural mainstay of postwar Paris.The Museum Berggruen in Berlin is as much a tribute to the man as to the art he collected. But who was Heinz Berggruen, really, and what did he do between his departure from Berlin in 1936 and his return almost six decades later? Berggruen wrote a number of autobiographical books, and reams have been written about him. Yet, there is still much to discover in this fascinating presentation.
Vivien Reuter
VIvien Reuter was raised in New York, the daughter of Jewish-Czech refugees from the Nazis. She graduated from Yale University with a degree in German literature and history, followed by a Fulbright scholarship to Heidelberg. For many years, she was active in the Berlin art world, before moving to London and then Paris. A chance encounter in an art gallery in the Rue de Seine set her on the trail of the real Heinz Berggruen. When her biography Heinz Berggruen – Leben & Legende (Ed. Alpenblick, Zurich) appeared in German in 2011, it unleashed a nationwide media storm and was discussed in the German parliament. Her investigation helped motivate the Museum Berggruen finally to research the provenances of the works it displays.