Marie Laurencin was a lover of the poet Guillaume Apollinaire. Here we encounter one of her unusual portraits of the oil on canvas "Femme au Turban Rose et au Collier" (1939). There is a feminine quality surrounding all of her works, which includes her use of colors. Rose and white seem to predominate.

The west wing the main hallway is graced by an 1840 Dutch marquetry desk-cabinet and leads to further works in the art collection. "L’Appel du Sang" ("The Call of Blood") (1947) is more mysterious than most of René Magritte’s works. This gouache is a tree that opens in two places to reveal a sphere and a castle. A third door is partially closed. In imaginative content it is one of his finest works. It links Wunderman to his passion for mystery and his long-standing admiration for Surrealism.

A few feet away we encounter a solemn funeral procession in the Place Sante de Brussels by Franz Gailliard, a somber work of dark colors, which stands in marked contrast to the works that one sees in the dining room, for it is a procession of ceremonial dignity. Two very fine Canaletto views of Venice, "The Grand Canal" and "San Marco," grace the walls of the formal dining room, creating a placid atmosphere illuminated by a circa-1880 Waterford cut-crystal chandelier.

In the dining room we also encounter Cocteau’s "Arlequin au Crabe" and "La Femme au Poisson" (both c. 1955). Harlequin’s caprices were often enacted by Cocteau, and the artist drew these two large pastels for a restaurant in the south of France near Nice. These two paintings are accompanied by sculptures of two antique Venetian blackamoor gondoliers.

As we continue toward the library we find Jean Metzinger’s oil portrait "La Femme Bleue," a fine example of this artist’s work. Her seated torso picks up the blue of the sea to her back. A journal and flowers are on the table to her left. The hard verticals and horizontals of the walls and windows are a contrast to the softness of her figure.

A large female torso also dominates Jean Souverbie’s oil "La Femme Bleue." The work is intriguing for the foreshortening expressed by the right forearm and hand that, hit by sunlight, serves as a foil to obscure the subject’s face. In the background we see a version of Neptune emerging from the sea drawn by three white horses. This appears to be almost an homage to Giorgio de Chirico, who treated the Neptune subject in the same manner.
 
While overseeing watch creations in Switzerland, Wunderman came into the sphere of Hans Erni, a master of line who is known not only for his paintings but his large public murals and his book illustrations. Wunderman posed for a portrait. The striped garments play well against the white chairs that seem to float on the canvas. There is a quiet drama in composition and in the detailed facial expression. Erni is a celebrated living master in many countries, but especially in his home, Switzerland.

As we enter Wunderman’s inner sanctum one sees his library of art books and biographies in a Regency bookcase. Here he contemplates designs for watches and plans for the theme of his next Basel Fair: International Timepiece Exposition, which is held annually.

Wunderman uses his intuition combined with his trust in his curator and fellow collectors in order to acquire his art. One of the pleasures of visiting his penthouse gallery is that he changes elements in his collection with some frequency. He has also made numerous loans to museums in Europe and Asia. "Art is to be shared," he says. "If it is not exhibited it is merely hoarded."
 
Dr. William Emboden, who lectures frequently on art and science, is the author of The Visual Art of Jean Cocteau (1989) and Jean Cocteau and the Illustrated Book (1990) as well as eight other books.