Back from Munich: Treasures from the collection return to Bern

With only few exceptions we will be showing the same selection of works that were exhibited in Munich. Back from Munich will be presented on three levels of the Kunstmuseum Bern, consisting of 180 paintings, works on paper, sculptures, and installations created by key Swiss artists.  From this exhibition we have a direct connection to the newly hung presentation of our collection on the second level – carried out personally by Director Matthias Frehner – opening up many options for com-parison and deeper understanding of the artworks.

A multifaceted tour embracing the scope of Swiss art
The two museums soon discarded their initial idea of showing the "best of the collection." Impressed by the Kunstmuseum Bern’s 2009 exhibition Director’s Choice: Swiss Landscapes from 1800 to 1900 as well as by the museum’s extensive additional holdings, the Munich team of curators decided to present highlights and treasures from seven centuries of Swiss art. The concept of the presentation as well as its organization was carried out collaboratively by both museums:  Munich’s outside view of the collection enhances Bern’s knowledge of its own holdings, resulting in a multifaceted tour of Swiss art revealing its great scope.

Swissness in Art?
The exhibition raises certain questions such as can we determine something specifically Swiss on viewing seven centuries of the Alpine republic's art? If so, how can we define a national, Swiss art? Does our experiment with the most beautiful examples of artists either born or working in Switzerland make the “Swissness” of their art apparent? We cannot give you any definite answers. But the exhibition offers our visitors the context in which they can answer these questions for themselves. We have gathered together a wealth of magnificent masterpieces and a plethora of artists whose names are famous way beyond our own borders to put together this remarkable and impressive ex-hibition.

Highlights and rarities from our depot
A tour of the exhibition begins with altar panels executed by the 15th-century Bernese Master of the Carnation. It then continues with portraits from the 16th to 18th centuries revealing Protestantism’s impact on pictorial art in the Alpine republic. Majestic mountain panoramas reflect the idea of a nation state in the way Friedrich Schiller idealized it in William Tell (1804). Groups of works by artists such as Anker, Stauffer-Bern, Böcklin, and Hodler distinctly illustrate an art tradition in the young federal capital that also rapidly grew to be internationally renowned. With Giacometti, Klee, Oppenheim, and Tinguely we have artists who were highly applauded on the international stage. Two fur-ther foci of the exhibition are Kirchner together with his Swiss followers and the Zurich concrete artists –Taeuber-Arp, Lohse, and Bill. We have represented contemporary art trends with artists such as Roth, Spoerri, Gertsch, Raetz, Rist, and others. The presentation of the collection in Back from Munich is not, however, restricted to showing only famous highlights such as Hodler's large-format figure paintings or Vallotton’s Abduction of Europa. It additionally features rarities from our holdings, relieving them of their obscurity in the depot, as in the case of Werner’s miniatures or Licini’s steel sculptures. A richly illustrated catalogue with introductory essays has been published in conjunction with this overview of our holdings.

Images & Documentations