A treasure trove by Renzo Piano

The museum building designed by the great Italian architect houses masters of modern art such as van Gogh, Picasso, Mirò, Monet and Warhol. And until January, Goya is also on display

An elegant building, designed to “be at the service of art, and not vice-versa”, in the words of its designer. Thus, the Fondation’s museum, designed by Renzo Piano and located in Riehen near Basel, in the park of Villa Berower, was inaugurated in 1997. Expanded in 2000, it is a building in red porphyry supported by four parallel load-bearing walls, with large glass windows along the front and a winter garden on the western façade.

From the Close-up exhibition, Berthe Morisot, Girl on a Divan (Jeune Femme au Divan), c. 1885, Oil on canvas, 61 x 50.2 cm Tate, London

From the Close-up Exhibition, Mary Cassatt, Young Lady Reading, 1878, oil on board, 40.3 x 63.2 cm, Collection of Diane B. Wilsey

From the Close-up exhibition, Marlene Dumas, Teeth, 2018, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm Private Collection, Madrid

From the Close-up exhibition, Alice Neel, Hartley on the Rocking Horse, 1943, Oil on canvas, 76.4 x 86.4 cm, Private Collection © The Estate of Alice Neel

from the Close-up exhibition, Elizabeth Peyton, Isa Genzken, 1980, 2010, Oil on board, 35.6 x 27.9 cm, Private Collection © Elizabeth Peyton, Courtesy the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels

From the Close-up exhibition, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Portrait of a Girl with Her Hand Spread across Her Chest (Mädchenbildnis mit gespreizter Hand vor der Brust), 1905 Oil on canvas, 41 x 33 cm, Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal Photo: Antje Zeis-Loi, Medienzentrum Wuppertal

From the Close-up exhibition, Cindy Sherman Untitled #109, 1982, Chromogenic color print, 91.4 x 91.4 cm Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek Denkmark. Long-term loan: Museumsfonden af 7. December 1966 © 2021 Cindy Sherman

Filtered by the glass roof, natural light illuminates the 22 exhibition rooms, covering a total of 3,764 sq. metres, where Hildy and Ernst Beyeler's precious collection can be admired: today, more than 400 works by 75 artists, whose quality and selection offer a broad overview of modern and contemporary art, from van Gogh and Monet to Picasso, Miró, Mondrian and Klee to Rothko and Warhol, and Bourgeois to Dumas and Tillmans. Sculptures from Africa, Alaska and Oceania provide a counterpoint to the Western heritage in an exceptional dialogue that embraces new visions, also thanks to the staging of significant temporary exhibitions. One example is “CLOSE-UP”, which until 2 January 2022, investigates the female gaze in the art world, with the works of nine prominent women artists from 1870 to the present day, and “GOYA”, from 10 October to 23 January 2022, one of the most comprehensive exhibitions ever devoted to the painter. Opening image: the museum building was built by Renzo Piano between 1994 and 1997 and then expanded between 1999 and 2000. (Photo Fondation Beyeler)