Regards d'un collectionneur : chefs d'oeuvre de la collection Ghez

Exhibition at the Caumont - Centre d'art, Aix-en-Provence, 7 November 2025 - 22 March 2026

Tunisian-born industrialist Oscar Ghez (1905-1998) amassed more than 5,000 works of art in just 30 years. In the rich panorama of modern art, few private collections manage to capture so accurately the diversity, vitality and complexity of the major movements that shaped modern art: the School of Paris, the Nabis, Neo-Impressionism and Cubism.

Through a selection of works that is as demanding as it is eclectic, Oscar Ghez did not content himself with identifying the major trends of modernity; with his dazzling vision, he was able to capture the turning points, the moments when painting created a new language. Very early on, he highlighted women painters, anticipating by several decades the current rediscovery of these long-invisible creators.

This exhibition catalogue brings together 60 works by 38 artists, including Caillebotte, Luce, Vallotton, Dufy, Valadon, Lempicka and Picasso. It also highlights the challenges of modern collecting and the vision of a man who, far from limiting himself to established figures, recognised the power of unique creators and themes that were neglected by the art dealers and collectors of his time.