Hugo Perls - Later Life

Later Life

Perls immigrated to the United States in 1941 during World War II and lived in Manhattan, the same year that he married his second wife the Swedish writer Eugénie Söderberg (1903–1973). The Perls Galleries in New York had been established by his eldest son Klaus Perls in 1937 and during this time Perls may have assisted his son in the acquisition of artwork. In 1939, the Frank Perls Gallery was opened by his other son in southern California and Perls briefly lived in Italy and traveled in Europe to further study collections of paintings after World War II.

Following World War II and until his death, Perls concentrated on writing and publishing. Most of his works concerned Plato and his philosophy and their conceptual application to the judgment and appreciation of art. His most significant work Platon: sa conception du kosmos was originally published in 1946. This book was republished in German twenty years later and based on Perl's studies, while living in Paris, of Plato's original writings. His published works included the discussion of aesthetics and the relationship between beauty and art although Die Komödie der Wahrheit (The Comedy of Truth) also featured other topics such as German intellectualism and the growth of Antisemitism.

After Perls's wife Eugénie died in New York City in 1973 he was married for a third time, to writer Monica Schall. Hugo Perls died in New York in 1977.