Rudolf Leopold, the world’s largest private art collector, passes away at 85

Recently, Rudolf Leopold, one of world´s most recognized and most important private art collectors, died in Vienna at age 85.

He became famous for bringing together the largest private collection of Austrian art that exists in the world. In 2001 his collection inspired the Austrian government to fund and found the Leopold Museum, which presents works by painters like Schiele, Kokoschka and Klimt. Leopold was named the director for life after agreeing to sell the government a collection whose estimated value was 500 million dollars for only 195 million dollars.

In recent years, Leopold made headlines because of the questionable background of some of the works he owned. There were accusations that some had been looted during World War 2 by the Nazis. He was criticized, especially by Jewish society, when he refused to thoroughly investigate the origin of the paintings in question.

Until his death Leopold struggled to reach settlement agreements so that the paintings would not be investigated, which is why the painting “Bildnis Wally” by Egon Schiele has been confiscated, locked in legal battle in the United States for over 10 years.

Leopold spent his youth in Vienna, where he was born, and after starting to study medicine began collecting paintings and various works of Austrian artists who were born during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He paid for his first paintings with what he earned by tutoring other students and with bank loans.

His best move was in the ´50s, when he acquired works by Schiele. At that time the artist, who died in 1918 with only 28 years of age, was not seen as a particularly prestigious artist, but he later went on to be recognized as one of the most important painters in Austria.

The collection currently held by the Leopold Museum has incredible paintings by Albin Egger-Lienz, Oskar Kokoschka, Gustav Klimt and Alfred Kubin. If you want to visit the museum, which is part of what they call the Museums Quarter, you can rent apartments in Vienna and enjoy seeing one of the most important art collections worldwide.