Kunstmuseum Solothurn

The Kunstmuseum Solothurn is an art museum opened in 1902 in Solothurn and is one of the most important cultural institutions in the city.

History

The museum was founded in 1902 as the "Museum of Arts and Sciences ". It initially contained next to the art department also has a natural history department. The former zeitgeist of colonialism had also recorded Solothurn: Solothurn naturalists traveled foreign continents and presented their findings and trophies alongside indigenous exhibits. The antiquated department was closed in the 1970s and moved to a more contemporary nature museum at a separate location. The vacant space has since been the visual arts available. In the gardens still are some exotic trees of the natural historical period, as well as a sequoia.

Stock

The Kunstmuseum Solothurn has thanks to generous foundations, one of the largest and most valuable collections in Switzerland. It ranges from the late Middle Ages to the present. The focus is on the Swiss art of the 19th and 20th centuries. With outstanding individual works or groups of images but also internationally significant artists from other countries are represented.

The small old master collection includes as highlights of the " Madonna with Strawberries " ( 1425 ), the Master of the Garden of Paradise and the " Solothurn Madonna " ( 1522) by Hans Holbein the Younger. Besides, there are also works by Hans Asper, Jusepe de Ribera and Frans Snyders. The collection offers a broad insight into the development of the Swiss landscape painting of the late 18th and 19th century by Caspar Wolf François Diday and Alexandre Calame to Ferdinand Hodler's late landscapes of Lake Geneva. Particularly rich the creation of native Solothurn Frölicher Otto Frank Buchser and Cuno Amiet is represented, which marks the transition between Art Nouveau and Modernism. Among the rich holdings of Swiss art of the early 20th century, including works by Giovanni Giacometti, Albert Trachsel, Félix Vallotton and Hans Berger.

The Kunstmuseum Solothurn accumulated to date consistently Swiss contemporary art in coherent groups of works. Representative is to represent the work of the Swiss iron sculptor Robert Müller, Jean Tinguely and Bernhard Luginbuhl. Other priorities are works of Meret Oppenheim, Daniel Spoerri, Dieter Roth and Markus Raetz. Among the acquisitions of recent years are works of contemporary Swiss art, including by Roman Signer, Silvie Defraoui, René Zäch, Albrecht Schnider, Felix Stephan Huber, Ian Anüll, Peter Wüthrich, Ingo Giezendanner, Uwe Wittwer, Mario Sala and Robert Estermann. For the museum park, Roman Signer has realized the kinetic fountain sculpture " Boots " (2004).