This Art Dealer Paved the Way for Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani. So Why Haven’t You Heard of Her?

Art dealer Berthe Weill helped establish artists like Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso throughout the first half of the 20th century. But by the end of her life, the struggling businesswoman was virtually unknown.

Now, Weill (pronounced “vay”) is finally getting her own exhibition at New York University’s Grey Art Museum. The new show features more than 100 works by artists who rose to fame with Weill’s support.

“There are so many aspects of what it means to be a woman dealer in a male-dominated profession and the reality of trying to promote unproven artists that still ring true,” Lynn Gumpert, the museum’s director and co-curator of the exhibition, tells the New York Times’ Hilarie M. Sheets.

For years, Gumpert has been collaborating with several others—including co-curator Marianne Le Morvan, founder of the Berthe Weill Archives in Paris, and Julie Saul, a New York gallerist who died in 2022—to champion Weill’s legacy. In 2022, the three women worked with translator William Rodarmor to publish the first English translation of Weill’s memoir, Pow! Right in the Eye!

Born into a Jewish family in Paris in 1865, Weill opened her own gallery, Galerie B. Weill, when she was in her mid-30s. From the start, she decided to only showcase emerging artists rather than established names.

On her business card, she wrote, “Place aux Jeunes,” or “make way for the young” in English. The show’s title, “Make Way for Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde,” reflects this motto.

“This exhibition spotlights the remarkable story of an indomitable woman who maintained a gallery in Paris, the art capital of the world, from 1901 to 1941,” says Gumpert in a statement. “Weill sought out unproven artists, some of whom became household names and some of whom didn’t. But all benefited from her creativity, ingenuity and passion.”

Weill’s gallery was open for four decades in four different locations across Paris. During that time, she developed an astonishing artistic eye. She organized Amedeo Modigliani’s only solo exhibition during his lifetime, which was shut down by police because his paintings were deemed “indecent.” She showed Fauve painters (before they were ever called the Fauves) and was the first art dealer to purchase Picasso’s artworks in 1901. She also gave Diego Rivera his first solo show in Paris and was an early promoter of Matisse.

Today, art historians recognize that Weill’s taste was groundbreaking. But at the time, she was a risk taker betting on obscure names. She pushed these artists onto her high-profile clients, including Gertrude Stein and her brothers.

“‘Trust me, you should buy Matisses,’ I told them,” wrote Weill in her memoir, per the Times. “They weren’t ready yet.” She adds, “They made up their minds soon enough, however, and started buying hand over fist (not from me).”

In addition to Picasso and Matisse, the new exhibition will display works by Marc Chagall, Aristide Maillol, Fernand Léger and Raoul Dufy. Numerous women artists that Weill promoted will be featured, including Suzanne Valadon, Émilie Charmy and Alice Halicka. Additionally, the exhibition showcases photographs, journals, letters and exhibition catalogs.

“Make Way for Berthe Weill” asks why Weill’s name has been erased from history. In addition to her impressive influence, the exhibition explores “the sexism, anti-Semitism, and economic struggles she faced as she advocated for cutting-edge contemporary art in a competitive Parisian art market,” according to the museum. She eventually closed her gallery during the Nazi occupation of France.

“The importance of this dealer you’ve probably never heard of can also be determined by the artworks that aren’t in the exhibition,” writes Artnet’s Karen Chernick. “Several paintings that no one wanted to show when Weill did are now too costly to borrow for an exhibition about her.”

“Make Way for Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde” is on view at the Grey Art Museum in New York through March 1, 2025.

Editor’s note, October 28, 2024: This story has been updated to credit additional contributors to the Grey Art Museum exhibition.

Julia Binswanger | READ MORE

Julia Binswanger is a freelance arts and culture reporter based in Chicago. Her work has been featured in WBEZ, Chicago magazine, Rebellious magazine and PC magazine.