Contemporary art

As continuations of the modern art collections, the collections of contemporary art endeavour to create a dialogue between Swiss and international art, established artists and newly emerging practices.

The artistic trends in the period immediately after World War II are represented by a relatively modest body of works, though with several important works illustrative of Tachisme, Abstract Expressionism and Informel art (Maria Elena Veira da Silva, Charles Rollier, Rolf Iseli, among others), and also New Realism (Daniel Spoerri).

It was with the first three editions of the Salon international de galeries-pilotes (1963, 1966, 1970) that the museum embraced the leading trends in international contemporary art. In this event it welcomed approximately fifty art galleries from around the world, which displayed works representing geometric abstraction, constructivist, minimal, conceptual and kinetic art, as well as Pop Art and Land Art. This was when the works by Marcel Broodthaers, Tadeusz Kantor, Lucebert and others entered the museum’s collections. Within the framework of the exhibitions Rencontre avec…, which were held on a frequent basis between 1972 and 1982, numerous works by contemporary artists from the region enriched the museum’s holdings.

The start of the 1970s also marked the entry of video art in the museum, with works by two pioneering French-speaking Swiss, Jean Otth and Janos Urban. This was before the collection was enlarged over the decades with videos by established artists like Bill Viola and Bruce Nauman, or up-and-coming artists such as Stephanie Smith and Edward Stewart, Emmanuelle Antille, Elodie Pong and Pauline Boudry.

The return to expressive figuration during the 1980s is broadly represented in the collections, with Neo-Expressionism taking pride of place with works by leading artists from the German-speaking world (Arnulf Rainer, Günther Brus, Martin Disler, Miriam Cahn, Luciano Castelli, Klaudia Schifferle), in particular with regard to works on paper. Other artists involved in the return to figuration are also present in the collections (Jean-Frédéric Schnyder, Leiko Ikemura).

Of the different artistic directions that developed between 1990 and 2000, the museum placed the emphasis on the acquisition of works by leading international artists (Bruce Nauman, Christian Boltanski, Jim Shaw, Sophie Calle, Tom Burr, Alfredo Jaar) while still continuing its search for artists from the local canton, whether their career is based in Switzerland or abroad (Jean-Luc Manz, Alain Huck, Fabrice Gygi, Silvie Defraoui, Philippe Decrauzat, Didier Rittener, Denis Savary, Annaïk Lou Pitteloud, Anne-Julie Raccoursier, and more).