Das Bild der Schweiz als romantische Landschaft
Director's Choice:«Drink o eyes» Director's Choice: Schweizer Landschaft von 1800 bis 1900
Als spezielle Sammlungspräsentation ermöglicht die thematische Auswahl desDirektors einen neuen Einblick in die Schätze des Kunstmuseums Bern. Das Bildder Schweiz in der Kunst des 19. Jahrhunderts steht im Mittelpunkt. Motive wieFolklore und Patriotismus, Souvenirmalerei und pathetische Landschaften, wildeBergwelten und liebliche Seen, geheimnisvolle Nachtszenen und historischeSchauplätze der Eidgenossenschaft ergeben ein vielseitiges Panorama der Schweizwie es noch heute das Touristen-Bild des Landes prägt.
The museum presents not only works that are strange or have hardly yet been seen, or visionary and realistic, but also well-known and familiar pieces from the rich fund of hidden museum treasures. With imagery that is deeply rooted in the national pictorial memory of the Swiss, a multi-facetted panorama enfolds in the exhibition that, still today, models the tourists' image of the country.
The exhibition focuses on representations of Switzerland that, in emulation of Albrecht von Haller and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, were spread far and wide in the 19th century via the medium of art.The overview commences with the political upheavals around 1800 and concludes with the decades that ensue the founding of the young federal state. Within this century a great diversity of national pictorial subject matter evolves. The exhibition is devoted to the theme of landscape. It reveals how, in the context of the legendary "Grand Tour," the English tourists pilgrimaged to the natural spectacles and in what ways the artists responded to their demand for images. The perspective of the stranger on the sublime alpine region builds the starting point of the exhibition circuit. Further chapters show how the landscape as political allegory is interpreted as symbolizing freedom and how the Romantic aesthetic experience of nature is continued through to the art of the Symbolists.
Besides the great Salon paintings, the exhibition focuses on the "paysage intime," on sentimental Realism, and on artificially lit transparent pictures. Simultaneously, visitors can submerge themselves in a familiar and yet aloof world of drawings, prints, book illustrations, topographical representations, sculptures, medals, and reliefs, which, in part, have never before been exhibited.
The presentation is conceived as a "hike" through the Swiss countryside, from the souvenir pictures of the lesser masters through to Ferdinand Hodler's cosmic view, and subdivided into themes. The exhibition room titles facilitate orientation and selecting the route.
