Agenda

More than 100 years ago, the Pharmaceutical Institute of the University of Basel was officially founded. Shortly thereafter, the pharmacist and professor of practical pharmacy, Prof. Dr Josef Anton Häfliger, assembled a scientific collection of objects related to the history of pharmacy.

This collection laid the foundation for the Pharmacy Museum (Pharmaziemuseum der Universität Basel), which is celebrating its anniversary this year. The current exhibition addresses the history of the museum and its collection within the existing permanent exhibition.

Detail from the brochure of the Pharmaziemuseum der Universität Basel

Instead of a craft, pharmacy had become a scientific discipline by the mid-19th century, and the production of medicines moved to factories. The exhibition also examines the interaction between the academic collection, the history of science, business and the interest of a profession in preserving its identity.

In 1979, the Neuchâtel Museum of Art and History (le Musée d’art et d’histoire de Neuchâtel) received a significant donation from James Adolphe Yvan Amez-Droz (1888-1976).  Yvan Amez-Droz purchased a collection of paintings, drawings, prints, books, and objets d’art in Paris, where he was based. By donating the modern part of this collection, the art lover wishes to show his affection for Neuchâtel, his family’s birthplace.

Named “The Yvan and Hélène Amez-Droz Bequest” by the donor’s wishes to associate his name with that of his sister, the collection comprises 69 works: 45 paintings, 18 drawings, two monotypes, and four sculptures.

It combines a range of French artists from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, from open-air painting to the early École de Paris.

The collection centres on the famous Impressionist artists Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and Auguste Renoir. The exhibition ‘Courbet, Monet, Renoir…..Focus Provenance’ also highlights the fertile artistic period that preceded the avant-garde movements of the early 20th century.  It includes works by representatives of Realism (Gustave Courbet) and Art Nouveau, such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

Hodler. A model for Swiss Art

In another room is the exhibition ‘Hodler. A model for Swiss art’ (Hodler. Un modèle pour l’art suisse).

Celebrated from Paris to Vienna, and compared to Paul Cézanne, Gustav Klimt and Auguste Rodin, he was one of the most recognised painters at the dawn of the First World War.

In Switzerland, he made a decisive contribution to artistic modernity, acting as a role model, a driving force and also a repellent.

Hiking is the most popular sport in Switzerland. People have always travelled on foot. The exhibition (Hiking Moves) in the Gelbe Haus in Flims invites visitors to view hiking from different perspectives.

What do I need to pack in my rucksack to be prepared for all eventualities on the trail? What does walking teach us about paths and pastures? How does climate change affect my route? Looking to the future, experts discuss the challenges of the present and consider how hiking will be possible in the future.

There is a special focus on the Flims-based architect Rudolf Olgiati (1910–1995). He was a keen observer and commentator on his surroundings. On his walks through the village and the canton, he constantly commented on the landscape, settlement structures and buildings, as well as their interaction.

His observations can be understood as a school of vision. When walking through the built cultural landscape of Graubünden, with Rudolf Olgiati in mind, there is still much to discover and decipher today.

Red Socks (die roten Socken) are a Swiss hiking tradition

In this show, 45 contemporary quilt and textile artworks from 11 nations demonstrate that creativity, artistic inspiration and time-critical statements are not the sole preserve of painting, sculpture, graphics and photographic art. The high-calibre exhibits were selected by a five-member international jury from over 130 entries.

The development of the ‘quilt’ art form from a predominantly functional blanket to an autonomous work of art over the last 50 years is impressive. The museum will be hosting the exhibition from May 23, 2025, to September 14, 2025.

Photography, invented in the 19th century, revolutionised the artistic world, dethroning painting as the dominant medium of documentation and shaping new artistic understandings. Artists like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) integrated photography into their work early on.

The depiction of people became easily attainable with unparalleled ease, relatively high speed, and accuracy. This shift diminished painting’s claim as a medium for documentation and ultimately led to a new (self-)understanding of this art.

Many artists, such as Alfons Mucha (1860-1939), André Derain (1880-1954), and Edgar Degas (1934-1917), adopted photography and its possibilities early on, using it as both a reference and inspiration, as well as an independent artistic medium.

However, only a few expressionist artists seriously engaged with photography in the long term, notably Gabriele Münter (1877-1962) and, above all, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.

He left behind approximately 1,300 glass and cellulose negatives, vintage prints, and five bound photo albums containing 900 images of his paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints, as well as installation photos of his exhibitions. Most of these objects are now housed in the collection of the Kirchner Museum Davos.

The exhibition ‘Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Between Painting and Photography‘ at the Kirchner Museum in Davos shows a series of images never shown before from its collection.

Some of the glass negatives exhibit traces of the artist’s manipulation, with areas of cross-hatching and linear figures etched into the glass—a significant theme in Kirchner’s artistic engagement with photography.

His photographic work not only served as a precise reproduction of his art but also as a creative tool, blurring the boundaries between documentary and artistic photography. Another aspect of Kirchner’s photographic work is devoted to artistic experiments with familiar themes such as landscape, portraiture, and studio scenes.

The exhibition explores the unique interplay between painting and photography in the artist’s oeuvre. By presenting a comprehensive overview of Kirchner’s photographic work alongside the painting collection of the Kirchner Museum Davos, the exhibition aims to shed light on Kirchner’s contribution to the connection between these two media and highlight how photography became a new source of inspiration for painters.

One of Switzerland’s core characteristics is its federal, subsidiarity-based state structure, which features direct citizen participation and decision-making power.

Residents of municipalities and cantons tend to have a strong commitment to their Heimat. Switzerland is a bottom-up country in all respects, including musical. The fact that tradition and innovation can coexist well in Switzerland is also well expressed here.

Not only is the number of classical festivals and concerts in all cantons impressive. The musicality also starts with the basics, folk music. And, just as manual labour, vocational training and craftsmanship are held in high esteem in this country, folk music also has its place within the national identity.

The interactive exhibition in the Forum Schweizer Geschichte shows the fascinating history of traditional Swiss folk music. The focus is on four typical elements of Swiss music culture: the melodeon (Schwyzerörgeli), the alphorn, the hammered dulcimer, and yodelling.

Folk music and songs have not always existed in the form we know them today. The exhibition shows how melodies migrate, how styles blend, and how the “myth of Swiss folk music” developed over time. Historical exhibits, sound bites, and portraits of individual musicians help to make this development process tangible.

From the traditional ländler to innovative “new Swiss folk music” – the show covers the full range of musical diversity. Apart from that, visitors can also give some of the instruments a try, test their yodelling voice, or even hit the dance floor.

Le Ranz des Vaches. Sammlung: Forum Schweizer Geschichte

Bringing together nearly 40 works from the prestigious Hammer Museum (UCLA, Los Angeles), the exhibition (De  Rembrandt à Van Gogh. Collection Armand Hammer, Los Angeles) takes visitors on a journey through European and American painting, from the Renaissance to the early 20th century.

European masters (Rembrandt to Van Gogh, Fragonard to Monet) and American artists of the early 20th century come together in Martigny. The exhibition reveals the fascinating history of transatlantic art.

The collection of American Armand Hammer (1898-1990), a visionary industrialist, passionate patron and erudite collector, is at the centre of this exhibition.

This collection is an aesthetic odyssey, guided by a search for harmony, transmission and understanding of the world through the eyes of art.

After the Museum Tinguely marked its 25th anniversary in 2021 with Ahoy! 25 Years of Moving Art; this year will see an extensive celebration of the centenary of the birth of its namesake Jean Tinguely (1925-1991).  Fasnacht 2025 has already started the Tinguely year.

On 22 May 2025, Swiss artist Jean Tinguely (1925-1991) would have celebrated his centenary. His innovative work is being honoured internationally with exhibitions, publications, events, and activities.

The celebrations begin on 22 May at the Museum Tinguely and Solitude Park on the Rhine. Exhibitions are also being held in several European cities, including Paris, Duisburg, Milan, Geneva, and Aix. The new publication by A. Pardey and R. Wetzel, L’univers tinguely-15 Dimensions in the Oeuvre of Jean Tinguely (Basel 2025), is also worth mentioning.

The art ghost train (Kunst-Geisterbahn) in Solitude Park is a special tribute. This ghost train is 100 years old and has stood in Vienna’s Prater.  English artist Rebecca Moss (1991) and Swiss artist Augustin Rebetez (1986) redesigned and redecorated the interior of this antique ghost train in the spirit of Tinguely.

They refer to the artwork Le Crocrodome de Zig et Puce, created by Tinguely, Bernhard Lüginbühl, Daniel Spoerri, and Niki de Saint Phalle in 1977 for the opening of the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Bernhard Luginbühl and Jean Tinguely, Le Crocrodrome de Zig & Puce, edited brochure of the exhibition, Gouache and Collage © 2025 Pro Litteris, Zurich, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Donation Prof Dr Roland Bieber in memory of Karola Mertz-Bieber.

The ghost train will run until 30 August 2025, the anniversary of Tinguely’s death.

Félix Vallotton (1865–1925) is one of the most important figures of French modernism at the turn of the century. Over 150 works from all creative periods, genres, and techniques are shown at two venues, including numerous masterpieces, such as the iconic work La Blanche et la Noire.

The exhibition titled Illusions perdues (Lost Illusions), was inspired by one of the most famous works of nineteenth-century literature, the three-part novel by Honoré de Balzac (1799-185o) that was part of his Comédie humaine. Like Balzac, Vallotton’s art is a precisely observed and trenchantly observed portrayal of society.

It is initially manifested in his woodcuts and can be frequently observed later in his paintings. Moreover, Vallotton’s style makes him one of the proponents of Verism, which distances itself from the picturesqueness of Impressionism, very similar to the way Balzac, with his realism, contributed to the overcoming of Romanticism.

Félix Vallotton (1865–1925), La blanche et la noire, 1913, Kunst Museum Winterthur, Hahnloser/Jaeggli Stiftung

Illusions have always been a fundamental subject of painting. Vallotton’s Nabi friend Maurice Denis (1870-1943) expressed more adamantly than anyone else that this was noticeably lost in the age of modernism, writing:

“Remember that a painting—before it is a horse, a nude model, or some anecdote—is essentially a flat surface covered with colours assembled in a certain order.”

This remark, made in the late nineteenth century, illustrates that the loss of illusion definitively marks the beginning of modernism.

The exhibition can be seen at two locations of the Kunst Museum Winterthur. The part with paintings and drawings is on show at Reinhart am Stadtgarten, whereas the wood prints and flower still lifes are on show at Villa Flora.

Sculptor, photographer, and master of artistic staging, Medardo Rosso (1858–1928) revolutionised sculpture around 1900 and became a role model for countless artists. Despite his significant influence, the artist is relatively unknown today. The exhibition “Medardo Rosso. Inventing Modern Sculpture” (Medardo Rosso. Die Erfindung der modernen Skulptur) aims to better understand his work.

The extensive retrospective at the Kunstmuseum Basel offers an opportunity to discover Rosso’s work in an overview exhibition featuring approximately 50 sculptures and around 250 photographs and drawings. It is also a chance to re-examine the development of modern sculpture.

This creates cross-generational encounters from Rosso’s time to the present, including works by Constantin Brâncuși, Edgar Degas, Eva Hesse, Meret Oppenheim, Auguste Rodin, and Alina Szapocznikow, Francis Bacon, Phyllida Barlow, Louise Bourgeois, Isa Genzken, Alberto Giacometti, Richard Serra, Georges Seurat, Andy Warhol, Francesca Woodman, Umberto Boccioni, Miriam Cahn, Giorgio de Chirico, Marcel Duchamp, Henry Moore, Meret Oppenheim, Odilon Redon, and other artists.

The exhibition, created in collaboration with the mumok (Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien), allows for exploring his radical and cross-media investigations of form (and formlessness), material, and technique. Even before Italian Futurism, which also drew on Rosso, he advocated for a radical and fundamental break with tradition.

“Medardo Rosso is undoubtedly the greatest living sculptor,” wrote Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) in the Parisian magazine L’Europe nouvelle after a studio visit to the artist. The Italian (Turin) Rosso lived in Paris for three decades from 1889 and returned to his homeland, Italy, in his later years.

In Paris, he made contact with the Impressionists and met Auguste Rodin (1840–1917), with whom he worked on a radical redefinition of sculpture. He also wrote numerous art-theoretical texts.

To overcome outdated ideas about representation, production, and perception, he believed a fundamental “revitalization” of sculpture was necessary: “There is no painting, there is no sculpture, there is only one thing that lives.” The human scale, the fragmented and thus intimate staging, and the moving, blurred edges of his figures contrast with the demands of monumental sculpture, which was common at the time, and thus with centuries-old sculptural traditions.

Rosso also pursued similar goals thematically and materially. Instead of heroic stories, he increasingly dedicated himself to the people of everyday life and created works that sought to capture the essence of a fleeting moment.

For his figures, Rosso used bronze and more ephemeral materials such as wax and plaster, which until then were mainly used only for designs or as aids in sculpture. Their softness and malleability give them a fleeting impression – a reason why his sculptures were also celebrated as the sculptural version of Impressionism.

From 1900 onwards, Rosso systematically incorporated photography into his design process. He photographed his figures and exhibited the images together with his sculptures, works by contemporaries, and copies of artworks from other eras as ensembles. Through this staging, the space around the works became part of the sculpture.

Rosso valued engaging in a relationship, in “conversation,” with his surroundings, as he put it: capturing the special moment when the motif suddenly emerges and becomes active.

(Source and further information: Heike Eipeldauer (Ed.), Medardo Rosso. The Invention of Modern Sculpture, Cologne, 2025; Kunstmuseum Basel; Museo Medardo Rosso; Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig).