Though he never put paintbrush to canvas, charcoal to paper, or fingers to plaster himself, Heinz Berggruen (1914-2007) made a significant impact and contribution to post-modern European avant-garde art.

“The Sailor,” 1938, by Pablo Picasso Credit: © 2026 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society

As an art dealer, collector, gallery owner, and friend to many well-known creative names in Paris after World War II, Berggruen was able to shape and guide both acceptance and knowledge of works by painters Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Henri Matisse. He also dealt with and collected sculptures by Alberto Giacometti and Henrie Laurens and drawings by Paul Cèzanne and Georges Braque.

He later created his own Museum Berggruen to showcase these works in Germany’s Berlin-Charlottenburg area. And it was sold to the German government after his death.

Now, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will present Picasso-Klee-Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruenon display from May 20-September 13.

Of the 121 total objects on display, 89 are from the Berggruen, and the rest complementary additions from the MFAH permanent collections and a loan, with the majority being works on paper and paintings. It is co-curated by the MFAH’s Ann Dumas (Consulting Curator of European Art), and Dena Woodall (Curator of Prints and Drawings).

“When he opened his gallery after the second World War, he formed friendships with major artists. And when he became more successful, he could do substantial exhibitions. He wasn’t the only dealer in Paris, but certainly a major one,” Dumas says.

“Blue Mountain,” 1919, by Paul Klee Credit: MFAH

“There weren’t as many galleries active due to the war, and he capitalized on that,” Woodall adds. “He was also a journalist who wrote about at and published books on artists. He loved to communicate with artists and had such a great eye to spot really fine works.” As a young man during the onset of Naziism, Berggruen also lived and worked in the United States in the San Francisco area.

The MFAH also has something of a personal connection here as MFAH Director and CEO Gary Tinterow was friends with Berggruen, having first met him in in 1979 when Tinterow was a graduate student preparing a Picasso exhibit. They later connected when both were in New York (Tinterow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art). He later also organized the first exhibition of Berggruen’s collection in Geneva in 1988.

Woodall notes that Berggruen in particular loved and appreciated Paul Klee’s work. And after purchasing his first watercolor by the artist, called it his “talisman” and would often travel with it in his luggage—probably to the horror of any art dealer or collector today. That specific painting now hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

As to why Berggruen gravitated especially to Picasso and Klee, despite their on-the-surface divergence in styles, Woodall says they sort of balanced each other out.

“Paul Klee was much more of an intellectual, a teacher. Picasso as more robust in a lot of ways. But you’ll see in the exhibition sometimes the sort of influences that went back between them and Matisse. They very much admired each other during this critical phase.”

“Portrait of Madam Cèzanne,” c. 1885, by Paul Cèzanne. Credit: Private Collection/MFAH

Dumas says Berggruen likened Picasso’s work to a “symphony” and Klee’s to “chamber music.”

“Dena and I were just talking today that it never ceases to surprise us that [Picasso’s] incredible range of styles and techniques that he experimented with throughout his long career,” she says. In the exhibit’s press release Dumas also adds that it’s a chance for museumgoers to see “less familiar works.” Meaning that many here have either not traveled (or traveled widely) or are not often included in major retrospectives of the participating artists.

Woodall even says this exhibit—with an entire room dedicated to Klee—could be the be the most of his work ever seen in one place in Texas ever.

The exhibit is laid out in additional thematic options divided into general introductions, human face, human figure, still lives, and one on the Berggruen Gallery itself. The last includes pictures of its namesake, as well as catalogs that he produced.

Normally, one MFAH curator tends to ride herd over a single exhibition. But because of the combination of paintings and drawing, Picasso-Klee-Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen marks the first time that Dumas and Woodall have worked closely together on the same exhibit. Both say they’ve enjoyed it and already have plans to collaborate on future exhibits in 2026 and beyond.

“Vegetal Elements,” 1947, by Henri Matisse Credit: MFAH

“We’re going to be a duo again!” Dumas laughs.

Woodall adds “We now today think of these artists are modern masters that everyone knows. But there was a time when they were first starting and being very much changemakers of their own time with a lot of technological, political, and social changes happening. They are coming with a fresh way of looking at the world, and that really comes across in this exhibition. And Berggruen was there to capture it all!”

Finally, we ask that if Gary Tinterow came knocking on their collective door and said they’ve done such a great job, that each curator can take one work home with them, what would they choose and why?

For Woodall, it would be Klee’s Landscape in Blue, a 1907 small watercolor that she says also shows the artist as a teacher and lover of line and color. Especially in the color variation of blue.

Dumas would grab Picasso’s Still Life on the Piano (CORT) from 1911. It’s a much larger work that marks a high point of Analytical Cubism, full of discreet references to musical instruments. The initials “CORT” are also in bold, black letters. Scholars have thought it refers to a famous French pianist at the time, Alfred Cortot, who Picasso befriended.

Woodall then makes a wry but accurate observation. “It would be much harder for Ann to carry that one out of the building!”

Picasso-Klee-Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen runs May 20-September13 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, at the Audrey Jones Beck Building, 5601 Main. For more information, call 713-639-7300 or visit MFAH.org. $20-$24. Children 12 and younger free.

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