Bern · Founded in 1849 · From the Middle Ages to contemporary art

The Kunstmuseum Bern, one of the oldest art museums in Switzerland, brings together old masters, Swiss art and major ensembles of international modernity.

The Kunstmuseum Bern has its origins in the reunion, in 1849, of the state artistic collection and that of the Society of Bernese Artists. The building designed by Eugen Stettler opened on August 9, 1879 on what is now Hodlerstrasse. Purchases, legacies, foundations and deposits then enriched a collection ranging from the late Middle Ages to contemporary creation. Under Max Huggler, from 1944, the museum asserted an international profile around Paul Klee, Cubism and avant-gardes. The ensembles dedicated to Ferdinand Hodler, Albert Anker, Meret Oppenheim, Adolf Wölfli, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and classical modernity give the institution a particularly dense identity. About four thousand paintings and sculptures interact with nearly seventy thousand drawings, prints, photographs, videos and installations. Monet, Cézanne and Van Gogh show here how landscape, self-portrait and rural gesture become the modern painting laboratories. The "Museum of Fine Arts Bern" selection notably compares The Seine near Argenteuil - Claude Monet and Self-portrait - Paul Cézanne. His reading favors figures.

In Bern, the collection advances in households: Swiss art dialogues with Klee, cubism, expressionism and the great experiences of European modernity.