Baselstrasse 101, CH-4125 Riehen / Basel
Tel.: +41 61 645 97 00
Fax: +41 61 645 97 19
Daily from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Wednesdays till 8:00 pm
www.beyeler.comfondation@beyeler.com
Architect: Renzo Piano
www.rpwf.orgHistory of the collection
In the past 50 years, Ernst Beyeler has established himself as one of the most renowned art dealers for classical modern art. Beyeler's career began at the beginning of the 1940's. As a student of economics and the history of art, he worked as an assistant at Oskar Schloss' antique dealers. After the death of his mentor he took over the business, but in 1947 he transformed the bookshop into an art shop. His first exhibits were Japanese woodcuttings. These were followed by illustrations from Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Klee. Following drawings by Auguste Rodin and Pablo Picasso, in 1951 he presented paintings by Pierre Bonnard, Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse for the first time. Like many other art dealers of his generation Ernst Beyeler developed into a great collector. His collection currently stands at nearly 160 pictures and sculptures from 33 artists. Initially, it was mainly works that did not sell that ended up in his collection - like Kandinsky's 'Improvisation 10' (1910). These were subsequently joined by those artworks that Beyeler no longer wanted to part with. Just how extensive and significant the collection had really become first became clear to the public - and allegedly also to the collector himself - when, on the invitation of the Spanish Minister for Culture, it was presented in the Centro de Arte Reina, Sofia, Madrid in 1989. It then went on display in the Berlin National Gallery in 1993. The idea of building a museum solely dedicated to the collection was already afoot quite early on: In 1991, Renzo Piano was entrusted by the foundation with the task of working out a building concept. Less than two years after the museum's inauguration in Autumn 1997, the building was lengthened by 12 metres. This increased the exhibition area by 458 m² to its current 3,764 m².