Director's Choice.

Close to Basel, Renzo Piano’s building and an outstanding collection of classical modern works attract art lovers to Fondation Beyeler. This has been run by Sam Keller since 2008. Keller was previously the director of the renowned Art Basel art fair.

Selected works:
Henri Rousseau: Le lion, ayant faim, se jette sur l’antilope, 1898/1905
Claude Monet: Le Bassin aux Nymphéas, c. 1917–1920
Alexander Calder: The Tree, 1966

Winterthur is home to the Swiss centre of excellence in photography: the Fotomuseum Winterthur and the Fotostiftung Schweiz document the full spectrum of photographic works. The institution is headed up by Nadine Wietlisbach (Fotomuseum Winterthur) and Peter Pfrunder (Fotostiftung Schweiz).

Selected works:
Robert Frank: Memphis, I Want to Escape, 1955/1990
Pia Zanetti: Bette Davis, Cernobbio, Italy, 1988
Anne Collier: Tripod, 2016

Kunsthaus Zürich houses Zurich’s most extensive collection of modern art. With the recently opened extension by David Chipperfield Architects, it is also Switzerland’s largest art museum. Since the year 2000, art historian Christoph Becker has been in charge of the Kunsthaus. This year, he is handing it over to Ann Demeester of Belgium.

Selected works:
Johann Heinrich Füssli: Titania liebkost Zettel mit dem Eselskopf, 1793–94
Alberto Giacometti: Grande Tête de Diego, 1954
Pablo Picasso: Grand nu, 1964

The Kunstmuseum Basel has a high-class collection, ranging from the 15th century to the present. In 2013, the art museum was rated by the London Times as the fifth-best museum in the world. The museum has been run by Dr Josef Helfenstein since 2016. Helfenstein’s previous professional roles include the Museum of Fine Arts Bern, Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois, and the Menil Collection and Foundation in Houston, Texas.

Selected works:
Pablo Picasso: Les deux frères, 1905–06
Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Équilibre, 1934
Andy Warhol: Ten-Foot Flowers, 1967–68

Art has found a new home in a former factory in Geneva. MAMCO (Musée d’art moderne et contemporaine) presents contemporary art in an exciting and dynamic museum complex. Lionel Bovier has been the director of MAMCO since 2016. Previously, he worked as a freelance curator, including at the art museum “Le Magasin” in Grenoble.

Selected works:
Kabinett für konkrete Poesie
Archives Ecart
Sylvie Fleury: Be Good, Be Bad, Just Be!, 2008

At its two locations – the LAC cultural centre and the historic Palazzo Reali – MASI Lugano offers an extensive exhibition programme, changing presentations of the collection, and a multilingual outreach programme. Since 2018, art historian Tobia Bezzola has been director of the Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana. Before that, he was the director of the Museum Folkwang in Essen.

Selected works:
Umberto Boccioni: Campagna lombarda o Sinfonia campestre, 1908
Augusto Giacometti: San Pietro a Venezia, 1935
Nicolas Party: Sunset, 2017

The Museum für Gestaltung Zurich is one of the leading museums for design and visual communication in Europe. Christian Brändle has been the museum director since 2003. A trained architect, he was previously responsible for site management of the Arteplage Murten at the national exhibition Expo.02. He has also worked for the Zurich Opera House and Kunsthalle Basel.

Selected works:
Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Cushion (Untitled), 1916
Herbert Matter: Für schöne Autofahrten die Schweiz, Poster, 1935
Adrian Frutiger: Student project (Vorprojekt der Univers), 1950–51

Museum Tinguely in Basel is entirely dedicated to the work of the famous Swiss painter and sculptor Jean Tinguely. Art historian Roland Wetzel took over the museum’s directorship from Guido Magnaguagno in 2009. Wetzel is also the author of numerous art publications.

Selected works:
Jean Tinguely: Méta-Matic No. 10, 1959
Jean Tinguely: Rotozaza II, 1967
Jean Tinguely: Grosse Méta-Maxi-Maxi-Utopia, 1987

The Photo Elysée in Lausanne has been presenting international photographic art again at its new location, Plateforme 10 in Lausanne, since mid-June 2022. Up until 2021, the museum was run by Tatyana Franck, who has been replaced at the new Plateforme 10 location by art historian Nathalie Herschdorfer.

Selected works:
Gabriel Lippmann: Sonnenuntergang und Gletscher, c. 1891–1899
Jan Groover: Untitled, c. 1978
Luis Carlos Tovar: Jardín de mi padre, 2019

Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern hosts the world’s largest collection of works by Klee in a spectacular building by Renzo Piano. Art historian Nina Zimmer took over as director of Zentrum Paul Klee in 2016, and at the same time became director of the Kunstmuseum Bern in a dual role. Prior to that, Zimmer was a curator and vice director at Kunstmuseum Basel.

Selected works:
Paul Klee: Ohne Titel (Elektrischer Spuk), 1923
Paul Klee: Alphabet I / Alphabet II, 1938
Paul Klee: Vorhaben, 1938