Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Paul

INDUSTRIALIST, ART COLLECTOR (GERMANY)
BORN 18 Jul 1879, Berlin-Charlottenburg - DIED 30 Dec 1956, Riehen, Basel
BIRTH NAME Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Robert Paul Hugo
GRAVE LOCATION Riehen, Basel: Hörnlifriedhof, Hörnliallee

Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was the youngest son of the founder of the Agfa company, Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1841-1880). Like his father he promoted in chemistry.

He became a director at Agfa and from 1925 onwards at I.G. Farben, the company that was as combination of Agfa, Bayer and BASF. In 1921 he married Johanna Nauheim, a British citizen, in London. In 1927 they moved to their new villa in Berlin-Tiergarten (Rauchstrasse 17). They had a daugher in 1933, Cécile.

In 1933 he was forced by the nazis to resign from his position at I.G. Farben. He emigrated to Switzerland and with the help of the artseller Justin Thannhauser he managed to bring his art collection to Basel. But in Basel many works were sold and it is unclear if this was ordered by Thannhauser or Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. The collection included eight works by Van Gogh, five by Picasso and work from Renoir, Monet, Rousseau, Braque and Matisse. Most pictures ended up in the USA.

From Basel he moved on to London, but after his wife died in 1948 he returned to Switzerland. He died in 1956 in Basel-Riehen.

Related persons
• is half-brother/half-sister of Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Otto von

Images

The grave of Otto, Paul and Hugo von Mendelssohn at the Hörnli-Friedhof in Basel.
Picture by Androom (02 Sep 2008)

 

Sources
De Volkskrant
Paul Mendelssohn Bartholdy der Jüngere – Wikipedia


Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Paul Hermann

Published: 09 Nov 2014
Last update: 20 May 2023