It takes courage to organise an exhibition about ghosts. However, the Kunstmuseum Basel has mastered the art of approaching art from different perspectives.
The exhibition ‘Geister/Ghosts’ offers a historical overview of the phenomenon, beginning with the Romans. For a long time, their existence was not questioned, and literature and artistic representations went hand in hand.
Gabriel Cornelius von Max (1840-1915), 1892, The Seeress of Prevorst in a Trance (Friederike Hauffe). Collection: National Gallery Prague
Benjamin West depicted the spirit of Samuel from the Bible as a white silhouette, William Shakespeare’s ghosts inspired Heinrich Füssli and William Blake, and the poet Emily Dickinson introduced a devastating ghost into Rachel Whiteread’s hut. Over time, art and culture have constantly offered new forms of expression for ghosts.
Georgiana Houghton (1814-1884), c. 1865, Album of Spirit Drawings. Collection: College of the Psychic Studies, London
It was not until the 19th century that their existence was scientifically questioned. Rationality and technology made the existence of spirits increasingly improbable, just as the first mountaineers of the 18th century demonstrated that there were no monsters at the top of mountains and walkers discovered forests as places of leisure.
Psychology also got involved. The inexhaustible human mind is indeed the cause of the perception of ghosts. Psychiatrist C.G. Jung studied the human mind from this angle.
Although ghosts today appear only as personal experiences, in literature, theatre, cinema or in the form of costumes, there is still significant interest in superstition and the supernatural. Séances and trance meetings are proof of this.
Cornelia Parker (* 1956), PsychcoBarn, 2023, reconstruction of the Bates-Villa from Hitchcock’s movie ‘Psycho’.
Sigmar Polke (1941-2010) receiver, 1968, telepathic session II with William Blake (sender). Collection Viehof, formerly collection Speck.
The exhibition explores the ghost through literature, cinema, visual arts, psychology and social developments.
Hofstetten (Canton Solothurn)
Some ghosts have even escaped from the museum and found their way to a nearby village!
The museum’s Ghost