Ernst Beyeler

Ernst Beyeler (16 July 1921 – 25 February 2010) was a Swiss art dealer and collector, who became "Europe’s pre-eminent dealer in modern art", according to The New York Times, and "the greatest art dealer since the war", according to The Daily Telegraph. In 1982, he and his wife founded the Beyeler Foundation to show his private collection, which on his death was valued at US$1.85 billion.

Early life Beyeler was born in Basel, Switzerland, on 16 July 1921, the son of an employee of Swiss railways. According to the Pittsburgh Quarterly, the "decision [of the Carnegie Museum of Art] not to build a Thompson building clearly made Beyeler's fortune, and ironically, it is Beyeler who has a museum containing his collection and bearing his name in Basel, Switzerland."

Personal life In 1948, Beyeler married Hilda "Hildy" Kunz (1922–2008), incorrectly reported in The Daily Telegraph as "Kunst" (the German word for "art"). He had no children.