With the new acquisitions, the museum becomes the most important European centre for Impressionism after Paris. But there is much more
With the patron association Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft and its approximately 23 thousand members, and founded in 1787, it is the oldest Swiss institution supporting the collection and exhibition of works in Zurich. Now, through the plans for expansion drawn up by David Chipperfield, it has also become the largest. Inaugurated on 9 October, the new Kunsthaus Zürich serves as a gateway to the world of art in all its forms, an elegant space flooded with light that has doubled the exhibition space dedicated to the collection.
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Already famed for its collections of Giacometti and Munch, masterpieces by Monet, Picasso and van Gogh, as well as Swiss artists such as Pipilotti Rist, the renovated museum shines a spotlight on works from the 1960s onwards and, with the inclusion of the Emil Bührle collection, will become the European centre for French Impressionism, second only to Paris. A vibrant space in which art can also be experienced thanks to temporary exhibitions as well as occasional important revisitations. This is the case of the installation The 2000 Scupture by Walter De Maria, one of the most extensive ever designed for indoor space, with 2 thousand blocks of white chalk set out over an area of 500 m2. Created for the Kunsthaus in 1992, it will once again be visible until 20 February 2022.
Opening image: the new expansion building designed by David Chipperfield Architects. On the forefront, Tastende Lichter by Pipilotti Rist, 2020 (photo Franca Candrian, Kunsthaus Zürich)