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historical notes
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It all begins in Basançon, the Doubs department of the Jura region near the Alps, in 1795. Joseph Bernheim, manufacturer and merchant of colors and supplies for artists, starts collecting his clients' paintings.
His son Alexander (1839-1915) befriends Delacroix, Corot and Gustave Courbet who paint in the region. In 1863 Alexander moves to Paris on Courbet's advice. He opens a gallery at 8, rue Laffite where he exhibits painters of the Barbizon school, and, beginning at 1874, the first impressionists before they receive any attention or public acclaim.
In 1901 Alexander organizes the first show of Vincent Van Gogh in Paris with the help of his sons Josse(1870-1941) and Gaston (1870-1953). These two young men will propel the Bernheim-Jeune gallery into the limelight of the modern art world.
In 1906 they open a gallery on 25, boulevard de la Madeleine. Josse and Gaston present Bonnard, Vuillard, Cezanne, Cross, Seurat, Van Dongen, Matisse, Douanier Rousseau, Raoul Dufy, Vlaminck, Modigliani, Utrillo. The Bernheim-Jeune Gallery becomes the center of the avant-garde.
1925 they move to the avenue Matignon, at the corner of rue du faubourg Saint-Honoré. The premises are inaugurated by the French president Gaston Doumergue on the occasion of the vernissage of "Masterpieces of the XIX and XX Century". Cezanne, Cross, Seurat, Van Dongen, Gauguin, Matisse, Douanier Rousseau, Raoul Dufy, Vlaminck, Modigliani, Utrillo, Renoir, are exhibited, and the gallery becomes the bastion of impressionism.
Bernheim-Jeune publish the fine arts review LE BULLETIN DE LA VIE ARTISTIQUE and books on painters.
Privileged relationships tie them to the masters of their times. Renoir, Bonnard, Vuillard, Carrière, do their family portraits. Artists, painters and sculptors like Rodin and Maillol are their intimate friends.
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