He was known as the owner of the largest private collection in Austria, founder of the Leopold Museum and popularizer of art of Egon Schiele

According to the Associated Press, Tuesday, June 29, at a hospital in Vienna died leading an Austrian collector Rudolf Leopold (Rudolf Leopold). He was 85 years old.

Leopold Collection, which is the largest in the country, has more than five thousand works of art. Among them are works of authors such as Oskar Kokoschka (Oskar Kokoschka), Egon Schiele (Egon Schiele) and Gustav Klimt (Gustav Klimt). In 2001 he opened a private museum of his name, where art lovers come from around the world.

Leopold was born in 1925 in Vienna. Engage in collecting began in 1947 meters. First, he bought paintings by old masters and artists of the XIX century, but becoming acquainted with the work of Schiele, more interested in modern art. In 1955, Leopold gave in Amsterdam, the exhibition of contemporary Austrian artists, which were presented and works by Schiele. The event attracted the attention of the international public. Leopold is best known as an expert on Schiele, he managed to gather the world's largest collection of paintings and sketches of the masters. Austrian Chancellor Faymann Verner (Werner Faymann) stated that the collector through the Alpine republic has become better understood and more to appreciate the art of renowned expressionist.

In recent years, collection of Leopold is often criticized: presumably, the collection includes works stolen from the rightful owners by the Nazis. In 2008, the lawyers hired by the representatives of the Jewish community, found that naughty Provenance have at least 11 works, including several works by Schiele. It is alleged that when purchasing these items Leopold knew that they could be confiscated by the Nazis. Collector himself denied it.

In the 1990's Leopold collection was estimated at 7.9 billion shillings (574 million euros, 884 million dollars).

material prepared Yulia Maksimova, AI

Sources: The Associated Press , france24.com , artinvestment.ru