She was one of Switzerland’s foremost art collectors, a passionate photographer, driver of motorcars, and mountaineer, and she sat for Ferdinand Hodler and other artists: in Van Gogh, Hodler and a Cabriolet, the Kunstmuseum Basel presents the first extensive exhibition dedicated to Gertrud Dübi-Müller (Solothurn, 1888–Solothurn, 1980). Around eighty works by renowned artists from her international collection, arresting photographs, and previously unpublished documents shed light on Dübi-Müller’s life and illustrate her influential role in the history of art and culture in unprecedented breadth. The collector struck up friendships with numerous artists including Alice Bailly (1872–1938), Giacometti, and Hodler. “Better to drive more slowly all the way to Paris than to go fast and crash and burn. I won’t be around to keep reminding you to take it easy,” Hodler wrote in a letter to her. The painter, whose friendship was especially dear to her, immortalized her in seventeen portraits; among the works she modeled for is the large-format painting View into Infinity (1913/14–1916), which is in the Kunstmuseum Basel’s collection.
