MARISOL AND GÉRARD J. CORBOUD
Swiss-born Gérard J. Corboud (* 1925, † 5 March 2017) lived for many years in the cathedral city with his wife Marisol, who is a native of Cologne. In March 2001, the two donors entrusted their outstanding collection of over 170 paintings, above all works by the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists, to the keeping of the Wallraf as a “permanent loan”.
Gérard J. Corboud had already distinguished himself prior to this donation by his services to the museum: he has been a member of the museum support association, the "Kuratorium- und Förderergesellschaft des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums / Museums Ludwig e.V.", since its founding. And through his membership of the board of benefactors, the "Stifterrat des Wallraf-Richartz-Museums", the art lover has been a great support to the museum.
A LIFE FOR AND WITH ART
Gérard J. Corboud has had a burning interest in art his whole life long. Already in his younger years the subsequent entrepreneur took advantage of his numerous trips to view the museums in the cities he visited. And over the years he developed a particular fondness for the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, and with time he came to be particularly fascinated by the Neo-Impressionists. From his enthusiasm at simply viewing these works grew the desire in the late 1970s to personally acquire paintings from these movements. This idea was the foundation stone for a private collection: the “Corboud Collection”.
The many years spent in Cologne and the long connections with the “mother ship” of all the museums in Cologne led the husband and wife collectors in 2001 to choose the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum as the new home for their paintings. To thank and honour the two benefactors, the museum has ever since borne the name "Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud”.
THE FONDATION CORBOUD
At the Fondation Corboud, the great masters of Impressionism such as Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and others appear alongside three other major precursors of Modernism: Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh. Viewed as a whole, the holdings of the Wallraf Richartz Museum and the Fondation Corboud give the visitor an almost unbroken view of the history of painting from 1870 to the eve of the Second World War.
Camille Pissarro (Saint Thomas 1830 – 1903 Paris): Orchard in Pontoise at Sunset, 1878. Oil on canvas, 46.7 x 55.2 cm. Fondation Corboud, WRM Dep. FC 712. Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln
Berthe Morisot (Bourges 1841 – 1895 Paris): Boats on the Seine, c. 1879/1880. Oil on canvas, 25.5 x 50 cm. Fondation Corboud, WRM Dep. FC 615. Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln
Gustave Caillebotte (Paris 1848 – 1894 Petit-Gennevilliers): Yellow Fields at the Plain of Gennevilliers, 1884. Oil on canvas, 54 x 64.7 cm. Fondation Corboud, WRM Dep. FC 561. Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln
Vincent van Gogh (Groot Zundert 1853 – 1890 Auvers-sur-Oise): Cottage in Nuenen, 1885. Oil on canvas, 35 x 47.2 cm. Fondation Corboud, WRM Dep. FC 665. Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln
Paul Signac (Paris 1863 – 1935 Paris): Capo di Noli, 1898, Oil on canvas, 93.5 x 75 cm. Fondation Corboud, WRM Dep. FC 682. Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln
Auguste Renoir Limoges (1841 – 1919 Cagnes): Jean Renoir Sewing, c. 1900. Oil on canvas, 55 x 46 cm. Fondation Corboud, WRM Dep. FC 680. Foto: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln
Maximilien Luce (Paris 1858 – 1941 Paris): Notre-Dame, Viewed from the Quai Saint-Michel, 1901–1904. Oil on canvas, 101 x 118,8 cm. Fondation Corboud, WRM Dep. FC 692. Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln
Kees van Dongen (Delfshaven 1877 – 1968 Monte Carlo): House in Fleury (La maison à Fleury), 1905. Oil on canvas, 55,9 x 45,7 cm. Fondation Corboud, WRM Dep. FC 661. Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln
Henri Edmond Cross (Douai 1856 – 1910 Saint-Clair): The Clearing (La clairière), 1906–1907. Oil on canvas, 162 x 131 cm. Fondation Corboud, WRM Dep. FC 660. Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln
“A MUSEUM SHOULD NEVER BE STATIC!”
Gérard J. Corboud believed that “a museum should never be static. The place should be alive, so a lot of its treasures must either be kept at times in the depot, or go on tour.”
In keeping with this principle, numerous works of the Fondation Corboud have been seen around the world since they made their triumphal entry into museum, serving as ambassadors of Cologne in Amsterdam, Aomori, La Coruña, Florenz, New York, Paris, Rotterdam, Turku, Vigo, Washington and Vienna, to name just some of the venues.
