"Hacha" in Gestalt eines Vogels, ca. 550 bis 950 n.Chr.

Stendahl Galleries, Hollywood / New York City, USA
Gertrud Dübi-Müller (1888-1980), Solothurn, Switzerland (1963)
Edith Hafter (1911-2001), Solothurn, Switzerland

Gertrud Müller (1888-1980), who came from a family of factory owners in Solothurn, and her brother Josef Müller (1887-1977) were interested in modern art from an early age and each started their own collection. Their role model was the Solothurn entrepreneur Oscar Miller, who was one of the first in Switzerland to collect modern works of art and was one of the co-founders of the Museum of Art and Science, from which today’s Solothurn Art Museum emerged. Gertrud Müller, who was only 14 years old, attended the opening of the museum in 1902 and got to know the painters Cuno Amiet and Ferdinand Hodler personally on this occasion. She had a particularly deep friendship with Hodler. The intimacy between them is evident in the many portraits that Hodler painted of Gertrud Müller.

As a self-confident woman, she bought a Pic-Pic car in Geneva in 1911 and drove it herself. She was the first woman to drive a car in her home town of Solothurn. At the age of 33, Gertrud Müller married the Solothurn lawyer Otto Dübi, who was the director of the family-owned Sphinxwerke Müller & Cie. From then on, she used the alliance name Dübi-Müller. Her husband supported her collecting activities and gave her the painting Goldfische by Gustav Klimt - presumably as an engagement present.

In addition to the extensive groups of works by Amiet and Hodler, both collections also contain groups of works by Hans Berger, Félix Vallotton, Ernst Morgenthaler, Giovanni Giacometti and Albert Trachsel.

Josef Müller and Gertrud Dübi-Müller complemented the Swiss modern art with purchases of works by international artists such as Cézanne, Matisse, Braque, Picasso and Gris.