Beyeler Foundation

The Beyeler Foundation or Fondation Beyeler is an art foundation based in Riehen, near Basel in Switzerland. It cares for the art collection of Hildy and Ernst Beyeler. The foundation runs a museum where visitors can see special exhibitions.

The museum gets money each year from the areas of Basel City and Basel County, as well as from the local town of Riehen. Big companies such as Bayer AG, Novartis, and the Swiss bank UBS also help support the foundation.

History

Art dealers Ernst Beyeler and Hildy Beyeler started the Beyeler Foundation in 1982. They asked the architect Renzo Piano to design a special museum for their private art collection. Before the museum opened, they showed their art in Madrid, Berlin, and Sydney. The museum building started being built in 1994 and opened to the public in October 1997.

Collection and exhibitions

The Beyeler Foundation opened on October 18, 1997, showing 140 famous modern artworks, including 23 pieces by Picasso. The collection of 400 artworks shows what Hildy and Ernst Beyeler thought was important in 20th-century art, with works from artists like Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Francis Bacon. The paintings are shown with around 25 objects of tribal art from Africa, Oceania, and Alaska. One-third of the space is used for special exhibitions that add to the permanent collection.

In 2007, a big exhibition brought together many important works, including van Gogh's Portrait of Postman Roulin, Lichtenstein's Plus and Minus III, and a large drip painting by Jackson Pollock. The collection keeps growing, especially with artworks made after 1950, like pieces by Louise Bourgeois, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Gerhard Richter. In 2013, a French art collector named Micheline Renard gave several artworks to the museum, including works by Jean Dubuffet, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sam Francis, and Sigmar Polke, which were first shown in 2014.

The garden around the museum also sometimes has special shows. In 1998, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped 178 trees in the park around the Beyeler Foundation and nearby Berower Park in special fabric for a few weeks.

Selected collection highlights

The Beyeler Foundation has art from famous artists like Claude Monet, Paul Klee, Paul Cézanna, and Vincent Van Gogh. These artists helped shape modern and traditional art.

Architecture

The museum was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. Building started in September 1994 in Berower Park in Riehen. It was made to look like part of the English landscape garden. The building has large glass walls that show the corn fields and vines on the Tüllinger Hills.

The museum's shape was inspired by the two walls that marked the garden’s edges. A red wall made from porphyry from Patagonia in South America replaced the old wall. Four long porphyry walls, each 115 meters, form the main building. A light glass roof lets in gentle light while keeping out too much sun. In 1999, the building was made 12 meters bigger for more exhibition space.

Across from the museum is the late-Baroque Villa Berower. It houses the museum’s administration and a restaurant.

Partners and sponsors

Public Sponsors

• Swiss Confederation
• Municipality of Riehen
• Canton of Basel-City

Major Partners

• Bayer
• Novartis
• UBS

Partners

• accurART
• Basler Kantonalbank
• Fondation BNP Paribas
• Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
• ISS Facility Services
• J. Safra Sarasin
• BLKB: Was morgen zählt
• Hatje Cantz
• Richard Mille