Rare collection on show in London

One of the biggest private collections of modern art in the world, featuring work by Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso and Klee, goes on show in Britain on Saturday.

Werner Merzbacher, 74, a Jewish financier who escaped the Nazis, has lent 80 of the works he has acquired over the past 50 years to the Royal Academy in London.

Mary Anne Stevens, the Royal Academy's senior curator, said there were a "mere handful" of comparable collections in the world – and their owners rarely lent more than a single work. Some of the paintings such as Derain's Boats in the Port of Collioure and Matisse's Interior at Collioure are important developments in modern art.

The collection is strikingly colourful and contains masterpieces of movements including the Fauvist, German Expressionist and Russian Avant-Garde.

"Mr Merzbacher bought, and still buys, with an incredible eye and passion. He knows what he can afford and what he can't," said Ms Stevens.

At the private view yesterday, Mr Merzbacher said he chose paintings and sculptures not for their worth – which he refused to discuss – but only because he liked them.

"I love them, they're like children," he said. "I don't have to prove to anybody that I have everything. Bacon and Freud are great artists but they don't belong to me. Schiele and Magritte are not me."

Masters of Colour: Derain to Kandinsky runs until 17 November and will be the only opportunity in Europe for the public to see the works.