Quirky and World-Class Art Collections and Their Beautiful Buildings

Fondation Beyeler

Fondation Beyeler museum is considered one of the world’s most beautiful art museums. This is due to the design of the building, the surrounding park and the permanent exhibits such as Monet’s lily pond paintings, and work from Picasso and Rousseau. There are also temporary exhibits that are shown throughout the year.

The Award-winning architect Renzo Piano designed the museum. The building is reflected in a lily pond and is in an English Garden. From here you can see views of the countryside, vineyards and the foothills of the Black Forest.

In 2017 plans to extend the museum were unveiled. The extension allows more space for public events and further art installations. The purchase of the Iselin-Weber park next door to the museum made these plans possible. This park was originally private and has mature trees and a lily pond.

The architect Peter Zumthor has been selected to design the buildings and grounds. He was born in Basel and is known for other projects such as the thermal baths in Vals and the Bregenz art gallery. He has also won several prestigious awards for architecture.

The Art

The art encompasses over 400 classic, modern and contemporary works from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries and includes constantly changing temporary exhibits. Ernst and Hildy Beyeler, who grew up in the area, decided to build the museum back in 1985 to house their large collection of paintings and sculptures. They worked together with Renzo Piano to design and build the museum which was completed in 1997.

Museum Tinguely

Jean Tinguely – a world-renown artist (22 May 1925 – 30 August 1991) was a Swiss sculptor known for his kinetic art sculptural machines (known officially as meta mechanics).

Jean Tinguely grew up in Basel and belonged to the Parisian avant-garde in the 1950s and 60s. He created his kinetic works by using everyday materials such as steel wire, tin plate and paint.

The museum of his life and work is on the banks of the Rhine at Paul Sacher-Anlage 2 – on the Kleinbasel side of the Rhine. The museum has a large central hall created by architect Mario Botta that holds several sculptures. The museum opens out to the historical Solitude Park which leads down to the Rhine. There is also a bistro in this park.

Apart from the Tinguely works, the museum also has temporary exhibits about his circle of friends and other modern artists with the same style. See the museum’s Facebook page for up-to-date exhibits, special events and videos on the workings behind the scenes at the museum.

If you are feeling like a refreshing dip after visiting the museum, this is a good entry point for swimming in the Rhine – make sure you take note of the rules of river swimming and danger zones on the river before attempting to float downstream.

Art Basel

Art Basel is considered to be the world’s leading fair in the international art market where over 250 art galleries from all over the world present their modern and contemporary works.

Three gallery owners from Basel decided to create an international art fair back in 1970: Trudl Bruckner, Ernst Beyeler and Balz Hilt. This first fair was visited by 16,000 people, then within just two years the exhibition space and number of visitors doubled.

What is offered to visitors:

• Large-scale artworks – sculptures, video projections and live performances.
• A parcours that covers around 6 km, passing through many of Basel’s impressive historic and modern architectural sites.
• The Liste and Volta art fairs (contemporary art from younger galleries) and Photo Basel (Photographic Swiss and International art), have joined with Art Basel to run at the same time.
• High-profile and emerging artists visit to present and talk about their work.

For more information see the Art Basel website.