Agenda

The Nabis group symbolises the beginnings of modern art. The group was founded by and around the artists Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Félix Vallotton and Édouard Vuillard.

The exhibition (Vivre notre temps) shows works from the famous Hahnloser/Jaeggli Collection and other paintings and reveals their connections with Paul Gauguin and Odilon Redon.

At the turn of the 20th century, art moved from figurative to abstraction. The Nabis group shows this change towards modern and abstract art, away from impressionism.

Although the Nabis artists are not connected by a unified style, technique, or development, their representations are based on the same ideas of this period and the turmoil leading up to the turn of the 20th century.

The show addresses various themes, topcis and developments relevant to these artists and reveals their multiple roots.

The exhibition Insects, du Léman au Jura (Insects, from Lake Geneva to the Jura) is part of a study of nature around Morges (canton of Vaud) and its surroundings.

Previous projects dealt with Birds (Les oiseaux, 2013) and Mammals, Amphibians and Reptiles (Les mammifères, amphibians et reptiles, 2016). The Bolle Foundation is now highlighting insects and their habitat.

The world of insects is unknown to almost everyone. We are surrounded by thousands of these small miracles, one more surprising, colourful and valuable than the other.

Insects are also an essential link in the circle of life and the development of flora and fauna. But we know so little about them. One hundred ten photos, taken by six photographers from the region, leave no one indifferent to these beautiful creatures of nature.

Who knows or has seen these animals: Psephurus gladius (Chinese paddlefish 2019), Diceros bicornis longipes (West African black rhinoceros 2011), Ectopistes migratorius (passenger or wild Pigeon 1914), Porphyrio albus (Lord Howe Swamphen 1834), Thylacinus cynocephalus (Tasmanian tiger 1936), Hydrodamalis gigas (Steller’s  sea cow 1768), Coregonus gutturosus (Lake Constance white fish 1970),  Raphus cucullatus (Dodo 1690), Lagorchestes leporides (Eastern Hare Wallaby 1890), Lipotes vexillifer (Chinese River Dolphin 2002) and Equus quagga quagga (Quagga) ?

Probably nobody. They have been extinct since 1690 and in subsequent centuries.

The installations entitled „Sleeping with the Gods“ by the artist Carlo Borer (1961) taper the milestones on the evolutionary timeline. They represent the demographic development based on models by the UN and the dramatic loss of flora and fauna.

Demographic growth

The explosive demographic growth and the extinction of animal species are the focus of this show. On the other hand, the artist is fascinated by technological advances and related developments. That is the hopeful message of the exposition by the Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G. Whether it will work this time as well, after the remarkable recovery of the Rhine or the disappearance of the Smog in London, for example, remains to be seen.

It is a well-designed and artistically powerful display of how both are related, although the issue does not often show up in the current climate discussions. Carlo Borer calls himself a builder of objects and installation art.

His Design, material and concept are based on science and industry. It also applies to this show. The underlying message is, that humankind is destroying the environment.

Digger

Destructive machines and fragments of a vulnerable planet are symbolised by his sculpture “Digger”, a construction looking like a mixture between an alien and a mining machine. It symbolises the exploitation of nature by humans and seems to take on an existence of its own that its creator cannot control anymore.

Moon landscape

Another installation shows a part of the moon landscape one-to-one but fragmented, based on data from NASA. The moon represents a dead planet (the future of the earth ?). In its shape shown here, it has disintegrated and serves science merely as a forensic research object.

Sleeping with the Gods

At the heart of the show is a large-scale installation, a timeline from the year 1700 until today. The floor represents the time about 320 years ago. Various grass-covered cones of different heights taper steadily upwards until some of them fizzle out. In the middle, a mighty, highly polished cone made of stainless steel raises up.

It represents the rapid demographic development, the grass-covered finite cones the other species that are first decimated and finally eradicated during the time of the biggest human interference with nature. The different species get a symbolic commemorative plaque in neon writing. The writing in Latin names of extinct animals is from the artist’s mother who wrote the names down.

Fibonacci

Another sculpture made of stainless steel is placed on a pile of scrap like a thin pipe or a longhorn, showing the demographic development of humankind over the past two thousand years, based on reliable data.

Humankind lived fully dependent on the rhythm of nature until industrialisation started in the eighteenth century. From this time onwards, the balance of power has changed dramatically and humankind is confronted with the consequences of human interference with nature, symbolised by the scrap.

On the scrap, the artist mentions the so-called Fibonacci numbers. These numbers represent the exponential population growth. Leonardo da Pisa or Fibonacci (c. 1170 – c. 1240) devised this series of numbers for the exponential population growth of rabbits in 1202 as written down in his book Liber Abaci. 

Switzerland is a (relatively unknown) country of viticulture. The canton of Valais and the cantons around the lakes of western Switzerland are the most important wine-growing areas.

Grape varieties are catalogued and inventoried worldwide. The most extensive catalogue is the VIVC Vitis International Variety Catalogue. In Switzerland. The University of Lausanne publishes the Swiss Vitis Microsatellite Database. Another Swiss database is the Nationale Genbank PGREL (National Genes Bank PGREL).

The latter includes vine varieties that originated or were bred in Switzerland or have national, regional or local importance.

At least 252 grapes are cultivated in Switzerland. There are up to 10,000 grape varieties worldwide, some estimates as high as 20,000, including about 5,000 hybrids.

The region around Lake Biel is known for cultivating Gutedel/Chasselas and Pinot noir. Today, the catalogue of varieties of the Rebgesellschaft Bielersee includes more than 70 white and red grape varieties.

The description of the vine determines Grapes. This science is called ampelography (from Greek ámpelos = vine and gráphein = to write). Vines are compared, and the shape and colour of leaves and grapes are described.

Nowadays, each grape variety has a unique genetic DNA profile. Grapes can be identified with 100% security.

The exhibition Vielfalt der Rebsorten (Vine Quality) in the Museum of Winegrowing in Ligerz (canton of Bern) shows old and new, known and unknown grape varieties. It shows the world of ampelography and the new world of modern grape cultivation.

Italy has been a desired destination for artists since the Renaissance. the country, perceived as the cradle of the arts, has exerted a fascination on European artists. The Grand Tour was part of the programme for scientists, Politicians and poets of the Enlightenment.

In addition to the admiration for antiquity and Italian art, it was also the longing for the south as the epitome of freedom and harmony of art and life in utopian Arcadia.

In the 20th century, this perspective changed: the Grand Tour gave way to mass tourism. The two World Wars led to a critical examination of Italian history. The idealised destination gave way to a more realistic view.

The exhibition Italia between Longing and Mass Tourism (Italia zwischen Sehnsucht und Massatourismus) traces the journeys south of renowned artists ranging from Claude Lorrain and Jan Both, Joseph Anton Koch, Carl Blechen, Arnold Böcklin, Anselm Feuerbach to contemporary artists.

The second exhibition in another part of the Kunst Museum presents Arte Povera works by Italian artists compared to German artists. This show is titled Nord-South (Nord-Süd). 

From the 1950s, Arte Povera questioned Italy with a new, different approach. The country was now reflected upon from within. Italian artists Lucio Fontana, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Luciano Fabro  and others and works by Gerhard Richter, Imi Knoebel und Isa Genzken are on show.

The third exhibition Di passagio in Reinhart am Stadtgarten presents the splendid art of Italian portrait miniatures.

Seven photographers visited seven buildings of Le Corbusier (1887-1966) in France and Switzerland. Le Corbusier himself used photography purposefully to propagate his talent and his visions.

But how does photography encounter Le Corbusier’s works today? For the exhibition (Architekturikonen neu gesehen) seven photographers visited seven key works of Le Corbusier. Visitors can get a new perspective of his art of building.

Jürg Gasser was a guest at the Villa “Le Lac” (1923–1924), the little house that Le Corbusier built for his parents in Corseaux on the shore of Lake Geneva. Arthur Zalewsky photographed the Villa Savoye (1928–1931) in Poissy near Paris. Katharina Bayer visited the Unité d’habitation (1946–1952) in Marseille, a huge residential block, which as a vertical garden city stands for the Reconstruction after World War II. Seraina Wirz traveled to his summer residence Cabanon (1951–1952) in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. Lea Meienberg took up the challenge of the chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut (1951–1955) in Ronchamp near Belfort. Rasmus Norlander visited the convent of Sainte-Marie de La Tourette (1953–1960), the concrete structure that he built for the Dominican order in Éveux near Lyon. Erica Overmeer’s contribution is a portrait of the Pavillon, his last building (1963–1967).

Seven white architectural models of the buildings, identical in terms of scale and material, are on show on the ground floor.

From 23 April to 2 October 2022, the exhibition tells folk tales from the region of the central Alps and looks at their origins and how they spread.

The Devil’s Bridge, the Sennentuntschi, and, of course, the story of William Tell are three examples of famous tales and legends from central Switzerland. Unlike fairy tales, legends are believed to be «true» and always bear reference to a specific place, person, event or time.

They tell of extraordinary, supernatural, or miraculous incidents. They feature ghosts, witches, and even the Devil himself and historical events and figures. No wonder they capture people’s imagination and make them shudder, but, at the same time, they often also contain an educational, socio-critical, even moralizing element.

The exhibition (Sagenhafter Alpenraum) is concerned with how tales and legends originate and spread and questions their function and their impact. Experts and additional programmes provide insight and background information regarding folk tales’ origins, reception, and various motifs.

As a draughtsman, sculptor, and installation artist, Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) fundamentally changed the art of the 20th century. In 1969, the Kunstmuseum Basel was one of the first museums to exhibit his works.

Shortly after the opening of today’s Kunstmuseum BaselIGegenwart in 1980, a selection of his works was exhibited in changing constellations. Since spring 2021, the new Kunstmuseum BaselIGegenwart has presented this group of works.

The eleven Vitrines of Joseph Beuys include many small sculptures and objects that are works in their own right, multiples and relics of spectacular performances by the artist.

They were first exhibited in Basel in 1998 under the title Laboratories of the Imagination (Laboratorien der Imagination). The Vitrines and the Basel Beuys Collection are permanently displayed in the Kunstmuseum Basel | Neubau.

The exhibition (La Belle Époque de l’Art Nouveau) shows various aspects of the great artistic movement that shaped the architecture and art of Europe between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

Between the end of the 19th century and the First World War (1914-1918), Europe experienced years of peace (La Belle Epoque). Prosperity, scientific and technical discoveries, and progress belief all pointed in one direction until 1914.

Artists participated fully in the renewal of society in Paris and Vienna, Munich, and, for example, Brussels. Art Nouveau rejected the past forms and challenged classical culture with a different way of perceiving and representing the everyday living and working environment.

Art Nouveau (Jugendstil in German) did not limit itself to aesthetic and formal changes but also social changes. It was an artistic movement that radically marked the beginning of the 20th century.

Its effort to reform society through the beauty of objects accessible and visible to everyone was widely disseminated in subways, streets, (public) buildings and through its favourite media, posters, magazines, and prints.

The well-documented exhibition features some of the most influential artists, including Jules Chéret, Edvard Munch, Pierre Bonnard, Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka.

How did a decor fit for the Tuileries Palace find its way into a farm in the Bernese Jura? The exhibition explores a luxurious parlour decorated with wallpaper from the late 18th century – a masterpiece that is being shown in public for the first time – and tells the fascinating story of its colourful owner. It is a tale of wine, wallpaper, countryside and contraband.

Ovid in the Jura turns the spotlight on an exceptional gift that entered the collections in 2011: a wallpaper measuring 15 linear metres depicting Ovid’s Metamorphoses that was found in a farm in the Bernese Jura.