Konrad Bernheimer

Konrad Otto Bernheimer (born 30 August 1950) is a German art dealer and collector. He is the chairman and owner of Bernheimer Fine Old Masters in Munich, and was the owner of Colnaghi in London. He sold Colnaghi to the Spanish dealers Jorge Coll and Nicolas Cortés in 2016.

Konrad Bernheimer
Born
Konrad Otto Bernheimer

(1950-08-30) 30 August 1950
Rubio, Venezuela
NationalityGerman
OccupationArt dealer and collector
TitleChairman and owner, Bernheimer Fine Old Masters, Munich
Former owner, Colnaghi, London
Spouse(s)Barbara Schaeffer
RelativesOtto Bernheimer (grandfather)
Lehmann Bernheimer (great grandfather)

Early life

Konrad Otto Bernheimer was born in Rubio, Venezuela, on 30 August 1950.[1][2] Following Kristallnacht on 9–10 November 1938, which saw the huge plate glass windows of the Bernheimer-Haus smashed, the family was sent to Dachau concentration camp. The Mexican government intervened, as his grandfather Otto Bernheimer was the Mexican honorary consul in Munich. Hermann Göring, a Bernheimer client, did a deal whereby they bought his niece’s Venezuelan coffee plantation which was struggling, and were allowed to emigrate there, and also had to take Göring's aunt and her Jewish husband along, and support them until they died.[3][4]

His father Kurt Bernheimer (1911–1954) committed suicide (which Konrad only found out about when writing his memoirs) in Venezuela, and his Venezuelan mother, Mercedes Uzcátegui Ramírez, and his two sisters joined Otto in Germany, who had returned to Munich in 1945.[3]

Career
Bernheimer-Haus

Konrad O. Bernheimer is the fourth generation of a family dealing in art and antiques, founded by his great-grandfather Lehmann Bernheimer as Bernheimer in May 1864.[5][6]

Bernheimer took over the family business in 1977, aged 26, and has moved it from a more broadly based art and antiques business to one dealing in Old Masters.[4]

In 1987, he sold the Bernheimer-Haus in Munich, a "massive baroque-style, purpose-built palace ten bays wide and six storeys high".[4]

As well as being the chairman and owner of Bernheimer Fine Old Masters, Munich, he owned Colnaghi in London, founded in 1760, and the world's oldest gallery, which he bought in 2002. He sold the company to the Spanish dealers Jorge Coll and Nicolas Cortés in 2016.[6][4]

He was a board member of The European Fine Art Foundation, and chairman of its fine art division, Pictura, from 2004 until 2019.[1][4]

Publications
  • Great Masters and Unicorns (2015)[7]

Personal life
Burg Marquartstein, 2009

He owns the 11th century 40-bedroom castle, Burg Marquartstein in Marquartstein, Bavaria, which is listed for sale with Sotheby's International Realty as of November 2015, with "price upon request".[8]

The Bernheimer sale of works of art from Burg Marquarstein at Sotheby's in London in November 2015 realised £2,371,000.[9]

His daughter Blanca Bernheimer has dealt in fine art photography since 2005.[6]

Honours

Bernheimer has been awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.[6] and he is Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres de la Republique Française.

References
  1. Club Carriere – Enzyklopädie des Erfolges März 2004. Algoprint Verlags AG. 2004. p. 387. ISBN 978-3-9522689-1-9. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  2. "P & D Colnaghi & Co Ltd". Companies House. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  3. Gleadell, Colin (3 November 2015). "Art Sales: Bernheimer clears out". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  4. "Dealer's dynasty: Konrad Bernheimer, Chairman of Pictura at TEFAF, is the fourth generation of a family of distinguished dealers. He talks to Susan Moore about his firm's extraordinary history". Apollo Magazine. 1 March 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  5. "Konrad Bernheimer". colnaghi. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  6. "150 Years of Bernheimer Anniversary Exhibition". bernheimer.
  7. "The secret lives of the great art dealers - Apollo Magazine". apollo-magazine.com. 27 June 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  8. "Burg Marquartstein". sothebysrealty. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  9. "Bernheimer Day Sale". Sotheby's. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
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