Wilhelm Hansen's Impressionist Collection on View in Padua

Federico Bano's Fondazione Bano in Padua is hosting a selection of works from the Ordrupgaard collection, assembled by Danish insurance magnate Wilhelm Hansen between 1916 and 1918. Hansen, a self-made man from modest bourgeois origins, built a fortune through a life insurance company for the middle class and used his wealth to acquire Impressionist masterpieces. He frequented Parisian salons and relied on advisor Théodore Duret, a friend of Manet, to build a collection of 156 French paintings. Hansen and his wife Henny built a villa north of Copenhagen to house the works, opening it to the public free of charge every Monday. He promised to donate the collection to the Danish state, but the bankruptcy of Landmandbanken forced him to sell. He later repurchased many works, declaring in 1931 after acquiring a Degas pastel that he was done buying. The exhibition in Padua includes eight Gauguins spanning his career, as well as works by Ingres, Delacroix, Corot, Courbet, Sisley, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, and Manet. The display evokes a private residence, with a room dedicated to Gauguin and a final highlight: Manet's Basket of Pears, which Hansen used to present as "another dessert after the ice cream."