Berthe Weill (20 November 1865 – 17 April 1951) was a French art dealer in the early 20th century French art market.[1] Weill was Picasso's first art dealer before he switched to Clovis Sagot. She was the first and only female art dealer to promote the avant-garde at the start of the 20th century.[1][2][3][pageneeded]
As a teenager in the 1880s, Weill began an apprenticeship at Salvador Mayer's antique shop on Rue Laffitte.[1][7] During her apprenticeship, Weill was introduced to the art criticClaude Roger-Marx, through whom she developed an interest in the work of emerging painters.[3][5]
Following Mayer's death in 1897, Weill opened a short‑lived gallery on Rue Victor‑Massé with her brother, Marcellin.[1][5]
Leaflet for Modigliani's only one‑man exhibition, held at Galerie Berthe Weill in 1917. The exhibition was closed by the police on the grounds of nudity.
On 1 December 1901, Weill used part of her dowry to open "Galerie B. Weill" at 25 Rue Victor‑Massé, calling it "a place for the young".[8] There she bought and sold modernist works, largely Fauvist and Cubist, though the fact that she did not amass a large stock or focus on a single style or coterie may have led some artists to instead go through alternative dealers as their careers progressed. In 1908 and 1909, she exhibited works by Fauves, including Braque, Derain, Manguin, Marquet, Marval, and Matisse.[1] In 1913, she curated a show with works by Gleizes, Léger, and Metzinger. She also hosted a group exhibition with works by Gleizes, Léger, and Picasso.[1]
Galerie Berthe Weill moved in 1917 from 25 Rue Victor‑Massé to 50 Rue Taitbout, and again in 1919 to 46 Rue Laffitte, into the former gallery of Clovis Sagot. At the same time, Weill inaugurated her librairie artistique and launched a publication titled Bulletin.[9]
In 1933, Weill published her memoirs, an account of thirty years as an art dealer.[10]
In 1946, several painters whose work she had promoted organized an auction of donated artworks, with the proceeds used to support her in later life.[11] An estimated ₣1.5 million was raised (equivalent to $147,000 in 2025), which supported Weill until her death.[6]
Early 1900s Poster depicting a nude artist and a man in a top hat for a Berthe Weill exhibition
Adolphe Brisson, literary critic for Le Temps. Picasso's first sales in Paris were three pastels on canvas depicting bullfighting scenes, which Weill sold to Brisson in 1900.[15]
André Level, head of the consortium of investors who, in 1904, began forming the Peau de l'Ours art collection of twentieth-century art. In 1914, it was sold at auction and was notable for its "phenomenal financial success". Weill stated that three-quarters of the items in the collection were purchased from her gallery. While this figure may be an exaggeration, Level is known to have bought from her regularly.[17]:26–27[10]:194
Gertrude and Leo Stein, American expatriates living in Paris, who promoted and collected avant-garde art
An exhibition on Weill's legacy, Make Way for Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde, was on display at New York University's Grey Art Museum from October 1, 2024 – March 1, 2025.[18][13] The exhibit was co-organized by Grey Art Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (exhibited May 10 – September 7, 2025), and the Musée de l’Orangerie (exhibited October 8, 2025 – January 26, 2026).[19] The exhibit was accompanied by a catalog by Lynn Gumpert, Marianne Le Morvan, Anne Grace, Stéphane Aquin, Claire Bernardi, Robert Parker, Charles Dellheim, Sophie Eloy, Kirsten Pai Buick, and Ambre Gauthier (ISBN978-2-080-44720-3).
In 2007, Picasso's portrait of Weill (1920) was designated a French national treasure.[11] In 2009, her memoirs (1933) were republished,[20] and a compilation of her gallery exhibitions was also released;[11] in 2011, Marianne Le Morvan published the first study dedicated to her life and dealership.[21] In February 2012, the City of Paris placed a memorial plaque at 25 Rue Victor Massé, where Weill opened her first gallery in 1900.[22]
References
12345678Tasseau, Vérane (2015). "Berthe Weill". The Modern Art Index Project, Leonard A. Lauder Research Center. New York City: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. doi:10.57011/EHXL9424. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
12Weill, Berthe. "Pan! Dans L'œil! Ou trente ans dans les coulisses de la peinture contemporaine 1900-1930", Lipschutz, Paris 1933
1234Sanchez, Pierre, "Les expositions de la Galerie Berthe Weill (1901-1942) et de la Galerie Devambez (1907-1926) Repertoire des artistes et liste de leurs œuvres", II, L'Échelle de Jacob, Dijon, 2009
↑Perry Gill. "Women Artists and the Parisian avant-garde: Modernism and 'feminine' art, 1900 to the late 1920s", Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York", 1995
12Richardson John, "A Life of Picasso: The Early Years, Vol. I, 1886-1906", Random House, 1991
↑FitzGerald Michael, "Making Modernism: Picasso and the Creation of the Market for Twentieth-Century Art", Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York", 1995, ""
↑Weill, Berthe, "Pan! Dans L'œil! Ou trente ans dans les coulisses de la peinture contemporaine 1900-1930", L'Échelle de Jacob, 2009 (Préface by François Roussier de la Tronche)
↑Le Morvan, Marianne, "Berthe Weill 1865-1951 La petite galeriste des grands artistes", L'Écarlate, Orléans, 2011
