Peter Robert Berry (* September 11, 1864 in St. Moritz; † November 14, 1942 in St. Moritz) was a physician and painter from St. Moritz in the canton of Graubünden.
Peter Robert Berry was born the eldest son of the Chur physician Peter Berry I and his wife Cecilia Berry-Stoppani. Peter Berry came to St. Moritz on the advice of his brother-in-law, the hotelier Johannes Badrutt, and was one of the first spa physicians to work in the “New Kurhaus,” which opened in 1864.
Berry attended the cantonal school in Chur—together with Andrea Robbi. He then studied medicine at the universities of Zurich, Bern, Heidelberg, and Leipzig. After completing his dissertation, he worked for a short time at a London hospital; In 1892, he became chief physician of the “Heilquellen-Gesellschaft” (Healing Springs Society) in St. Moritz-Bad.
In 1895, he became engaged to the American Kitty Spalding, gave up his position as a spa doctor, and continued his education in Paris and Berlin. The engagement was broken off after a year, and Berry returned to the Engadine.
In November 1898, Berry vehemently opposed plans to develop the town into a health resort for tuberculosis sufferers in a detailed document addressed to the municipality of St. Moritz. He feared that the sophisticated, sports-loving public and other summer visitors would fear infection and stay away. Instead, he called for the “wellness offerings” such as spa treatments, which flourished in the summer, to be extended to the winter as well. The reputation of a sanatorium would ruin the upscale resort of St. Moritz: “Either sports or germs.”
In 1898, Berry met the painter Giovanni Segantini, whose project for an Engadin panorama for the 1900 Paris World’s Fair he strongly supported. At that time, Berry developed the desire to paint himself. Unsatisfied with his own experiments with colored pencils and pastels, he turned to his friend Giovanni Giacometti in 1898 and asked him to introduce him to the art of oil painting. Giacometti, however, was unavailable and put Berry off until winter. He supported his friend’s desire to paint, which strengthened Berry’s resolve to become a painter.
Between the winter of 1899 and 1901, one of Berry’s first large oil paintings was created. It is entitled “Christmas Eve” and, like other early works by Berry, is strongly influenced by Giovanni Segantini’s choice of motifs and divisionist painting technique.
In 1900, Berry began studying painting at the Académie Julian in Paris, presumably on the advice of his friends Giacometti and Andrea Robbi, who had previously attended the school. In 1901/1902, he learned precise drawing at Heinrich Knirr’s school in Munich and simultaneously took courses at the veterinary faculty, where he studied equine anatomy. In the following years, he continued his education in Paris at the Académie Julian and the Académie de Montparnasse.
Between 1905 and 1914, Berry spent many winters on the Julier and Bernina Passes, painting in the open air and, in the evenings, playing the piano he had brought with him or reading in his hospice accommodations. He enjoyed works by Friedrich Nietzsche, whom he had met in St. Moritz. His brother often helped him carry his paintbox, paintings, and easel.
In 1907, Berry met Ferdinand Hodler, who was staying in the Engadine at the time. He, too, is said to have encouraged him to continue painting. In 1918, during the outbreak of the Spanish flu, Berry once again worked as a doctor, but otherwise devoted himself exclusively to painting.
Peter Robert Berry died on November 14, 1942, in St. Moritz. His works were not shown until after his death in 1945 as part of a memorial exhibition at the Graubünden Art Museum in Chur.
Berry had been married to Maria Rocco since 1908. One of his sons also worked as a doctor and painter in St. Moritz, and his granddaughter, Marietta Gianella-Berry, also became a painter.
The “Villa Arona” in the center of St. Moritz was built around 1904[3] according to plans by Nicolaus Hartmann (1880–1956) by Berry’s brother Johannes, a dentist who lived there with his family.
The Berry Museum, which opened there in 2004, exhibits numerous works by Berry, most of them family-owned. In addition to the paintings, the museum also houses Berry’s extensive estate. This consists of books, letters, notes, diaries, musical scores, and numerous documents relating to the founding and development of the spa town of St. Moritz.