Hugo Perls

Hugo Perls (24 May 1886–1977 was an international art dealer, historian, philosopher and notable collector born in Rybnik in Upper Silesia. During his lifetime, he witnessed his homeland change from its German origins to Polish. He studied law, philosophy, and art history at the University of Freiburg and in Berlin. On completion of his studies he joined the German civil service and worked for the Ministry of the Interior prior to serving in the German Foreign Office during World War I. Perls married his first wife Kaethe in 1910.

Perls began collecting artwork in 1914 and was working as a professional art dealer by 1921. He established the Kaethe Perls Gallery in Berlin and collected and sold the works of many famous artists, particularly impressionists, including Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Cézanne, among others. A portrait was painted of Perls and his wife Kaethe by Munch in 1913.

In 1931, Perls moved back to Paris because of the rise of Nazi Germany. He engaged himself in scholastic activities studying the works of Plato in their original Greek and also the works of Goethe and Kant. Following this research he was himself inspired to compose several articles regarding Plato, his philosophy and aesthetics. These pieces were published in a number of French philosophical journals and he went on to give lectures on Plato at the Sorbonne. His first book: L'Art et la Beauté vus par Platon was published in 1938 as a result of his scholastic research.

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