The air of respectable wealth surrounding the three-story villa that houses the E.G. Bührle collection is in keeping with its quiet residential neighborhood in Zurich. But it doesn't begin to betray the priceless treasure inside: one of the world's most impressive private collections of European art, with works by Delacroix, Degas, Renoir, Pissarro, Gauguin, Canaletto, Braque, Signac, Picasso and other masters from the 16th to the 20th centuries.
Upon entering, the first pleasant surprise is Monet's Poppies Near Vétheuil and Manet's In the Garden of Bellevue hanging in the downstairs salon. But the vibrancy and luminosity of those Impressionist masters are just...