Agenda

Davos (Canton of Graubünden) is the subject of this exhibition (Europa auf Kur. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Thomas Mann und der Mythos Davos).

The (former) mountain village makes European cultural and medical history visible. The show links medical and spa history, architecture, winter sports, art and literature, philosophy and politics.

The high mountain air was a remedy against the contagious disease tuberculosis. From 1870 onwards, Davos rapidly changed from a mountain village into an international health resort.

At the same time, Davos developed into a renowned winter sports resort. The Beau Monde met in Davos: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Katia and Thomas Mann, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Albert Einstein and Sonja Henie are only a few celebrities who visited Davos.

The exhibition tells their stories. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner left Berlin to stay in Davos. In the novel Der Zauberberg, Thomas Mann describes Davos as a symbol of Europe’s dreams and misfortunes.

The exhibited masterpieces by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner from the Kirchermuseum open a new perspective on European cultural life at the turn of the century.

Other Objects are displayed for the first time. They come from the German National Museum (Germanisches Nationalmuseum), the Davos Historical Museum (Heimatmuseum Davos), the Davos Sports Museum (Sportmuseum Davos), the Medical History of Davos ( Medizinhistorische Sammlung Davos) and the Davos Documentation Library (Dokumentationsbibliothek Davos).

The original diaries, notes and photographs from the Thomas Mann Archives at the ETH Zurich document the history of the Der Zauberberg in an impressive manner.

“From what our eyes see when we walk in streets, anywhere in the world, under and around our feet, on pavements covered with the remnants of paint and chewing gum, wet spots and tyre tracks, I have created photographs and photographic compositions that allude to the world of Atlases, to the pages filled with images of the universe, geographical maps, landscapes, invitations to discover the world and to invent other worlds”.

(A partir de ce qui tombe sous nos yeux quand on marche dans les rues du monde, là autour de nos pas comme dessous, sur les trottoirs couverts de restes de peinture et de cheving-gum aplatis, de taches d’humidité et d’autres traces de pneu, râpées, j’ai réalisé des photographies et des compositions photographiques faisant allusion au monde des Atlas, aux pages remplies d’images de l’univers, de cartes de géographie, de paysages, d’invitations à découvrir comme à inventer le monde, un monde).

As the artist, Alan Humerose (1956) himself, says, the photographs that make up The Great Atlas of Downcast Eyes (Le Grand Atlas des yeux baissés) are nothing more than an invitation. An invitation to explore, change viewpoints, and imagine a different reality, but also and above all to dream.

To walk the pavements as if leafing through an atlas, to get lost in their roughness, to be intoxicated by their colours and to use these unexpected discoveries to form a new poetic and photographic universe, that is what The Great Atlas of Downcast Eyes is about.

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On the occasion of the bicentenary of Greece’s declaration of independence (25 March 1821), the Fondation Hardt pour l’étude de l’Antiquité classique  and the museum put the friendly relations between Greece and Geneva at the beginning of the 19th century into perspective of three personalities.

The museum also organises the exhibition  A taste for the antique. Anna et Jean Gabriel Eynard (Le goût de l’antiqu).

Jean Capodistrias (1776-1831), a Greek citizen, and two Genevans, Charles Pictet de Rochemont (1755-1824) and Jean Gabriel Eynard (1755-1863), played a key role in the independence of Greece. Eynard was also a co-founder of the National Bank of Greece.

These three figures also worked together to integrate Geneva into the Helvetic Confederation in and after 1815. A few years later, Eynard distinguished himself by coordinating the European Philhellenic Committees, which were set up in the wake of the uprising by the Greek people.

Kapodistrias became the country’s first president in 1827. He was assassinated by his opponents in 1831. A decade later, Eynard co-founded the National Bank of Greece.

From today´s perspective, the Langmatt villa in Baden (Kanton Aargau) in the early 20th century was one of the most important concentrations of modern art in Switzerland.

The villa belonged to the industrialist Brown family. In 1891, Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown (1863-1924) and his brother Sidney William Brown (1865-1941) joined Walter Boveri (1865-1924) to found the firm Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC).

Charles and Sidney were children of the English engineer Charles Brown (1827-1905) and the Swiss Eugenie Pfau (1845-1929). The firm flourished and soon became a multinational, known as ABB since 1988.

In 1896, Sidney married Jenny Sulzer (1871-1968). They gave rise to one of the world´s most significant private collections of impressionist and modernist art.

Around 1920, they also developed a marked interest in French art of the 18th and 19th century. They also accumulated a remarkable collection of Chinese ceramics and furniture, silver and porcelain from different epochs.

The city of Baden became the owner of the villa and its collections in 1987 and founded the Museum Langmatt in 1990.

The family’s interest was not limited to the arts. They also collected the multilingual canon of world literature, history, philosophy, literature, religion, politics, music and the fine arts.

An extensive correspondence with dealers testifies to the acquisition of magnificent volumes. Many historical photos show the family members busy with their passion and selected books reveal their inner selves.

The Showcase Archive (Schaufenster Archiv) presents for the the library and for the first time large parts of the archive. They were systematically indexed and partially digitised in 2017–18.

It contains, among other things, documents, letters, postcards, diaries and photographs from the Brown family estate.

The time frame of the documents spans the years 1850 to 1987, when John Alfred Brown died (born in 1900). He bequeathed the Villa and its rich collections to Baden.

The exhibition ((Du précieux au quotidien. Le verre plat dans l´architecture) is devoted to the fascinating history of the production and use of sheet glass from antiquity to the present day.

The exhibition will highlight the interactions between technological innovations and developments in the field of flat glass production, the construction industry and architecture, and will give an insight into the diversity of this once precious and now everyday material.

A special look is taken at the company Epredia/Erie-Electroverre in Romont, which in 1935 inaugurated the first electric furnace for the production of drawn glass. Documents, photographs and filmed testimonies trace the history of this company, which unfortunately closed its doors in 2021. This closure concludes the history of one of the last drawn glass production sites in the world.

In response to the pandemic of the coronavirus, Art as Connection takes the form of an experimental and open exhibition based on a collective development process.

The open form of this project takes into account the uncertainty of our times. A wide range of themes – including isolation, distrust, authority, globalisation, health, solidarity and community – are expressed in the artworks and in the discussions and events for and with the public.

Snowflakes transform the world. Like through a white filter, we perceive our surroundings with different eyes. The exhibition shows how snow changes our perception, emotions, and expectations, and explores how we as humans adapt to wintry conditions: How do we move through and across snow? How do we protect our bodies and houses? And what happens if the snow itself needs our protection and “white Christmases” become ever rarer?

The castle (Château de La Sarraz) in the canton of Vaud has a history of almost a thousand years. The first Donjon was built in 1049 by the Lord of Grandson. The area then belonged to the nearby Romainmôtier Abbey.

The castle is located in the valley of La Vénoge on the route from France to Italy near Mormont Hill (known for its Celtic (the tribe of the Helvetians) settlement and finds).

From the thirteenth century, the Counts and Dukes of Savoy controlled Vaud and also La Sarraz. From 1536 to 1798, Bern was the ruler of Vaud, and the castle, which from 1541 was inhabited by the Gingins family (until 1948).

The castle was destroyed several times (during the Burgundian Wars of 1474-1477 and the Bern Conquest of 1536) but rebuilt each time.

Until 1948, the castle was owned by four noble families from Vaud: Grandson, Montferrat, La Sarraz and Gingins.

They passed the castle and the estate from generation to generation through inheritance or marriage until the death of the last chatelaine Hélène de Mandrot (1867-1948) of the Gingins dynasty.

As a result, the chateau has retained its character of habitation and use. Seven collections make up the museum of the Château de la Sarraz.

The museum has some of the finest collections of furniture and paintings in Switzerland.

The exhibition (900 ans de dynasties) presents the eleventh-century dynasties until the last châtelaine in 1948.

The exhibition (Les géants du vignoble) shows extraordinary discoveries and presents itself as an excavation experience, a journey of 140 million years into the Cretaceous.

The visitor is immersed in the everyday life of the palaeontologist from field work to reconstruction of the skeletons and environment. In the process, one also learns about the scientific studies related to the fossils found.

The museum’s collections include around seventy engravings and etchings by the painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca. 1526/1530–1569).

The exhibition presents the complete collection of the museum, complemented by selected loans from the Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich.

His works encompass landscapes, allegorical and religious representations, and scenes from the everyday lives of the peasantry.

The artist is best known for his apocalyptic sceneries with demons .

The lively action on the surface of his works almost always contains a deeper truth. Drawing on his own varied experiences and with evident wit, Bruegel takes aim at human foibles and flaws.