Richard and Ulla Dreyfus-Best collection: a survey of the human soul

An exhibition reveals the art collection of Richard and Ulla Dreyfus-Best, masters collectors between contemporary art and art from the past centuries.

: René Magritte, The red model, 1947 or 1948, Gouache on paper.

: Johann Heinrich Fussli, The nightmare, 1810, oil on canvas.

: Johann Heinrich Fussli, Romeo kneeling at Juliet’s bier, 1809, oil on canvas.

: German master (16th cent.), Vulcan and Ceres, oil on wood.

: Frans Francken the younger, Witches’ Kitchen, ca. 1604, Oil on copper.

: Fausto Bocchi (1659-1741, circle or follower of), Chicken hunt, oil on canvas.

: Hieronymus Bosch (follower of), The last judgment, ca. 1515-20, oil on wood.

: Frans Post, Don Quixote, 17th cent., oil on canvas.

: Giuseppe Arcimboldo (after), Air, oil on canvas.

: Alfred Kubin, The monster, ca. 1903, pen and ink wash, spray technique on paper.

: Katsushika Hokusai,, A spirit appears to a pair of lovers, early 19th cent., black ink and watercolor on paper.

: Gustave Moreau, Prometheus, 1880-1885, watercolor on paper.

: Andy Warhol, Skull, 1976-77, synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen on canvas.

: Francesco Clemente, It, 1994-1995, pastels on paper.

: Matthew Barney, A pepe da lamina, 2004, C-print in polyethylene frame.

: Johann Heinrich Fussli, Callipyga, Lady with raised skirts, standing in front of a dressing table with phallic supports, 1790-1800, pen and india ink on paper.

: Gustave Doré, Cupid with a pistol on top of a Mountain of skulls, pen and brush with india ink on paper.

: Jacob Isaacsz van Swanenburg (1571-1638), Aeneas led by the Cumaean sybil throught the underworld, oil on canvas mounted on modern wood panel.

: Arnold Bocklin, Odysseus on the seashore, 1869, oil on canvas.

: Victor Brauner, Psychological Space, 1939, Oil on canvas.

: Kurt Seligmann, Balancement, 1932, oil on plywood.

The heiress Ulla Dreyfus-Best serves as a Member of Advisory board at Sotheby’s and is considered among the 200 world top collectors. With her husband Richard, of the same eclectic approach focused on the idea of “artificial”, she has gathered together hundreds of artworks, including masters such as Peter Breughel, Gustave Moreau, Johann Heinrich Fussli, Katsushika Hokusai, Arnold Bocklin, Alfred Kubin, René Magritte, Hans Bellmer, Gustave Doré, or Matthew Barney, most of them hanging on the walls of the couple’s residencies.

A selection of 120 pieces from this unique collection is currently on exhibition in Venice, including a nice canvas from a follower of Hyeronimus Bosch, a copy from Archimboldo, and some pieces not attributed yet but for this reason not less interesting: and that is the point. In the case of the Dreyfus-Best’s collection even a minor work becomes a fundamental passage for the story which the collection embodies. A story that is not the one of a classic “wunderkammer”, but that of human weaknesses, fears, dreams, ambitions and desires.

April 14, 2020