Who's who of French artists in focus as a major private art collection goes on show in Berlin

BERLIN – A major German private art collection accumulated over four generations is going on large-scale show for the first time in Berlin, with a who's who of French art of the 19th and 20th centuries at its core.

The Scharf Collection has its roots in a collection started more than a century ago by Otto Gerstenberg, who led a Berlin life insurance company. It's now in the hands of Gerstenberg's great-grandson, René Scharf, and his wife, Christiane, who have expanded it further into contemporary art.

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The roughly 150 works going on show this week at Berlin's Alte Nationalgalerie range in time from the early 19th century, with plates from Spanish master Francisco de Goya's series “The Disasters of War” and “La Tauromaquia,” to modern abstract works by German artis