In Dialogue – The Two Oskar Reinhart Collections, Winterthur

From 19 February 2009 to 1 August 2010 the two Oskar Reinhart collections are to be merged temporarily. The renovation of the Villa Am Römerholz provides a unique opportunity to see an important selection of its world-famous paintings by old masters and French Impressionists at the Museum Oskar Reinhart am Stadtgarten in Winterthur, set here in an exciting dialogue with part of Reinhart’s collection of paintings by German and Swiss painters.

Works from four hundred years of European painting show impressively the connections that exist between German and French art, as well as the elements which link the old masters with their successors at the threshold to Modernism. The highlights of the exhibition include the comparison of portraits by Pierre- Auguste Renoir, Wilhelm Leibl, Edouard Manet and Ferdinand Hodler, as well as the works of Gustave Courbet and his German contemporaries. While they were all painted almost around the same time, they are rarely – if ever – juxtaposed within museum galleries. The majority of the works owned by the Museum Oskar Reinhart am Stadtgarten not on show as part of the In Dialogue exhibition can still be seen on the third floor as part of a study exhibition.