Esther Grether

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Esther Grether (born c. 1936) is a Swiss art collector and businesswoman.[1] In 2013 Forbes estimated her and her family's net worth at $2.2 billion.[1] Grether inherited a beauty and health care products company from her late husband Hans Grether in 1975 that she continues to run with her daughters.[1] She has been Chairperson of the Board of the Basel based Doetsch Grether Group for more than thirty years,[2] and is the second largest shareholder in The Swatch Group. She has served on the Swatch Group's Board of Directors since 1986.[2]

Art Collection

Grether possesses one of the most valuable collections of 20th-century art in the world. Her art collection reportedly includes more than 600 pieces. Artists represented in her collection include Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Salvador Dalí, Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti.[1] Her collection is kept in a converted printing factory which is also her home.[3]

Among the artworks in her collection is Bacon's Triptych, May–June 1973, one of Bacon's three "Black Triptychs".[4] Grether purchased the painting at auction in 1989 for $6.3 million, then a record for a Bacon painting. Grether is believed to own three other Bacon triptychs from the 1970s.[5][6]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Esther Grether profile". Forbes profile - Esther Grether. Forbes (magazine). Retrieved 24 May 2013. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Board of Directors - Esther Grether". Swatch Board of Directors. The Swatch Group. Retrieved 24 May 2013. 
  3. "In pictures: Top Billionaire Art Collectors". Forbes Billionaires Art Collectors. Forbes (magazine). Retrieved 24 May 2013. 
  4. Tóibín, Colm. "Such a Grip and Twist". The Dublin Review, 2000.
  5. Thornton, Sarah. "Francis Bacon claims his place at the top of the market". The Art Newspaper, 29 August 2008. Retrieved on 10 June 2010.
  6. "Post-War Works Shine at Christie's" Artnet News, 16 November 2000. Retrieved on 7 May 2007.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.