Ernst Beyeler, successful art collector, dies

GENEVA - Ernst Beyeler, whose early eye for undervalued Picassos and Impressionists helped him assemble one of Europe's most famous art collections, has died, his Beyeler Foundation said Friday. He was 88.

Beyeler died Thursday evening at his home near Basel, said the museum, which he created 13 years ago out of his sprawling gallery of masterpieces.

Beyeler, the son of a Swiss railway employee, became a widely respected art patron after World War II by acquiring hundreds of works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and others. He presented them to the public in his Basel gallery and later in the foundation he founded near the German border.

His art collection eventually grew to a value of at least $1.85 billion, according to the Swiss finance magazine Bilanz.

"Art must touch you and leave a strong visual and mental impression upon you," Beyeler once said in an interview with Swiss weekly magazine NZZ Folio. - AP