An important collection of modern art amassed by Werner Merzbacher, a Swiss collector who died in 2024, is currently the subject of a legal battle centered around the late businessman’s will and who really gets the right to control the paintings he owned.

Merzbacher, who generated his fortune through a fur business and currency trading, gained many of the artworks in his possession through his grandfather-in-law, Bernhard Mayer. His collection included a range of high-quality Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, Fauvist, and German Expressionist artworks, with artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Max Beckmann, and Alexej von Jawlensky represented in his holdings. He appeared on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list in 1996 and 2014.