Konrad Otto Bernheimer (born 30 August 1950) is a German Venezuelan art dealer and collector. He is the chairman and owner of

Bernheimer Fine Old Masters Bernheimer Fine Old Masters was a German art gallery and dealership in Munich, owned by Konrad Bernheimer. History In 1887, Lehmann Bernheimer bought a small coffee house and beer garden (owned and run by an Englishman) called the ''English Caf� ...

in Munich, and was the owner of

Colnaghi Colnaghi is an art dealership in St James's, central London, England, which is the oldest commercial art gallery in the world, having been established in 1760. Foundation The business that became the Colnaghi gallery was established by Itali ...

in London. He sold Colnaghi to the Spanish dealers Jorge Coll and Nicolas Cortés in 2016.

Early life

Konrad Otto Bernheimer was born in Rubio, Venezuela, on 30 August 1950. Following

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation fro ...

on 9–10 November 1938, which saw the huge plate glass windows of the

Bernheimer-Haus The Bernheimer-Haus, also known as the Bernheimer Palace, is a residential and commercial building located on Lenbachplatz 3 in Munich. The building was built in 1888/89 by architect Friedrich von Thiersch with a Baroque Revival architecture, neo-b ...

smashed, the family was sent to

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

. The Mexican government intervened, as his grandfather Otto Bernheimer was the Mexican honorary consul in Munich.

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

, 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. 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.

Career

Konrad O. Bernheimer is the fourth generation of a family dealing in art and antiques, founded by his great-grandfather

Lehmann Bernheimer Lehmann Bernheimer (27 December 1841 - 29 May 1918) was a German antique dealer, who built the Bernheimer-Haus in Munich. He was born on 27 December 1841 in Buttenhausen near Münsingen, Germany, Münsingen, Württemberg, the third child of Mei ...

as ''Bernheimer'' in May 1864. 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. In 1987, he sold the

in Munich, a "massive baroque-style, purpose-built palace ten bays wide and six storeys high". As well as being the chairman and owner of

, Munich, he owned

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

Publications

* ''Great Masters and Unicorns'' (2015)

Personal life

He owns the 11th century 40-bedroom castle, Burg Marquartstein in

Marquartstein Marquartstein is a municipality in the southeastern part of Bavaria, Germany and is part of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Marquartstein and Staudach-Egerndach. It is situated in a region called Chiemgau, approximately 10 km south of Lake Chi ...

, Bavaria, which is listed for sale with

Sotheby's International Realty Sotheby’s International Realty is a luxury real estate brand founded in 1976 by Sotheby's fine art dealers. Sotheby's International Realty operates as a franchise focusing on brokering and marketing of residential real estate. As of 2018, the ...

as of November 2015, with "price upon request". The Bernheimer sale of works of art from Burg Marquarstein at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

in London in November 2015 realised £2,371,000. His daughter Blanca Bernheimer has dealt in fine art photography since 2005.

Honours

Bernheimer has been awarded the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

. and he is Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres de la Republique Française.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernheimer, Konrad 1950 births Living people People from Rubio, Venezuela Konrad P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. people German art collectors German art dealers Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany