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Die Fondation Beyeler Die Fondation Beyeler Am 18. Oktober 1997 wurde die Fondation Beyeler in Riehen bei Basel offiziell eingeweiht. Seither hat die bedeutende Sammlung von Hildy und Ernst Beyeler eine der Öffentlichkeit zugängliche Heimstätte gefunden. Das neue Museum wurde in einer etwa dreijährigen Bauzeit vom Genueser Architekten Renzo Piano erbaut, der unter anderem auch das Centre Pompidou in Paris realisiert hat. Finanziert wurde der Museumsbau von einer Stiftung, die das Sammlerehepaar 1982 gegründet hat und die gleichzeitig auch Trägerin der Fondation ist. Das Gelände wurde von der Gemeinde Riehen zur Verfügung gestellt; der Kanton Basel-Stadt leistet seinerseits einen jährlichen Beitrag in der Höhe von CHF 2,78 Millionen an die Betriebskosten des Museums (inkl. Anteil der Gemeinde Riehen). Piano hat mit dem Bau ein ruhiges, zurückhaltendes Bauwerk schaffen wollen, das »der Kunst dienen soll und nicht umgekehrt«. Das mit rotem Porphyrstein verkleidete Gebäude besteht aus vier parallelen, monumentalen Längsmauern, verglasten Stirnseiten und einem an der westlichen Längsseite gelegenen Wintergarten, der den Blick auf die Landschaft freigibt. Das über den Längsmauern schwebende Glasdach versorgt das Innere gänzlich mit dem für Kunst so wertvollen Tageslicht. Die Ausstattung der zweiundzwanzig Ausstellungsräume verzichtet bewusst auf jede Art von sichtbaren technischen oder gestalterischen Details. Die Sammlung Beyeler, die rund 300 Bilder und Skulpturen der klassischen Moderne und der Gegenwartskunst umfasst, ist in mehr als fünfzig Jahren parallel zur erfolgreichen Galerietätigkeit von Hildy und Ernst Beyeler entstanden. Der Umfang und das Renommee der Sammlung wachsen durch Neuerwerbungen bedeutender Werke von Künstlern wie Cézanne, van Gogh, Kelly, Warhol u.a. beständig weiter. Ausgewählte Arbeiten der Stammeskunst aus Afrika, Alaska und Ozeanien werden in einigen Sälen mit Werken der europäischen und amerikanischen Kunst konfrontiert, was immer wieder zu spannungsvollen und in dieser Form einzigartigen Dialogen führt. Mit den Ausstellungen schafft die Fondation Beyeler immer wieder auch einen Bezug zur aktuellen Kunst. Gezeigt werden jeweils drei Ausstellungen pro Jahr, die in engem Bezug zur Sammlung und ihrem ganz besonderen Charakter stehen. Seit der Eröffnung wurden folgende Ausstellungen realisiert: »Jasper Johns. Werke aus dem Besitz des Künstlers«, »Renzo Piano. Building Workshop«, »Farben – Klänge. Wassily Kandinsky und Arnold Schönberg«, »Roy Lichtenstein«, »Magie der Bäume« mit »Wrapped Trees« von Christo & Jeanne- Claude, »Face to Face to Cyberspace«, »Cézanne und die Moderne«, »Farbe zu Licht«, »Andy Warhol. Series and Singles«, »Mark Rothko«, »Ornament und Abstraktion«, »Anselm Kiefer. Die sieben Himmelspaläste 1973–2001«, »Claude Monet ... bis zum digitalen Impressionismus«, »Ellsworth Kelly. Werke 1956–2002«, »EXPRESSIV!«, »Paul Klee. Die Erfüllung im Spätwerk«, »Mondrian + Malewitsch. In der Mitte der Sammlung«, »Francis Bacon und die Bildtradition«, »Calder – Miró«, »ArchiSkulptur«, »Blumenmythos. Von Vincent van Gogh bis Jeff Koons«, »Picasso surreal«, »René Magritte. Der Schlüssel der Träume«, »Contemporary Voices: Die UBS Art Collection zu Gast in der Fondation Beyeler«, »Wolfgang Laib. Das Vergängliche ist das Ewige«, »Henri Matisse. Figur Farbe Raum«, »EROS. Rodin und Picasso«, »EROS in der Kunst der Moderne«, »Hommage an Paul Cézanne«, »Edvard Munch. Zeichen der Moderne«, »Die andere Sammlung. Hommage an Ernst und Hildy Beyeler«, »Action Painting«, »Fernand Léger. Paris–New York«, »Venedig. Von Canaletto und Turner bis Monet«, »Marc Quinn«, »Franz West«, »Bildwelten. Afrika, Ozeanien und die Moderne«, »Giacometti«, »Günther Förg«, »Jenny Holzer«, »Henri Rousseau«, »Basquiat«, »Felix Gonzalez-Torres«, »Wien 1900. Klimt, Schiele und ihre Zeit«, »Segantini«, »Beatriz Milhazes«, »Constantin Brancusi und Richard Serra«, »Louise Bourgeois«, »Surrealismus in Paris – Dalí, Magritte, Miró«, »Pierre Bonnard«, »Jeff Koons«, »Alexander Calder Gallery I«, »Philippe Parreno«, »Edgar Degas«, »Ferdinand Hodler«, »Max Ernst«, »Maurizio Cattelan«, »Alexander Calder Gallery II«, »Thomas Schütte«, »Daros Latinamerica Collection«, »Odilon Redon«, »Gerhard Richter«, »Gustave Courbet«, »Alexander Calder Gallery III«, »Peter Doig«, »Paul Gauguin«, »Marlene Dumas«, »Auf der Suche nach 0,10 – Die letzte futuristische Ausstellung der Malerei«, »Black Sun«, »Jean Dubuffet – Metamorphosen der Landschaft«, »Alexander Calder & Fischli/Weiss« sowie »Kandinsky, Marc & Der Blaue Reiter« und »Roni Horn«. Sämtliche Ausstellungen haben internationale Beachtung und Anerkennung gefunden. Im Jahr 2017, dem Jahr des 20. Geburtstages, zeigt die Fondation Beyeler die Ausstellungen »Monet«, »Sammlung Beyeler – Das Original«, »Wolfgang Tillmans, »Sammlung Beyeler – Remix«, »Paul Klee« und »Sammlung Beyeler – In Kooperation«. Die Fondation Beyeler verdankt ihre besondere Anziehungskraft der Verbindung der einzigartigen Sammlung mit einer faszinierenden Museumsarchitektur und Landschaft sowie den wechselnden Ausstellungen auf höchsten internationalem Niveau, die immer wieder eine Auseinandersetzung mit der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, aber auch der ganz aktuellen Kunst ermöglichen. Das Museum konnte bereits über 6,5 Millionen Besucher seit der Eröffnung begrüssen. Pressebilder: sind erhältlich unter: www.fondationbeyeler.ch/medien/pressebilder Kontakt/Presse Silke Kellner-Mergenthaler Head of Communications Tel. + 41 (0) 61 645 97 21, [email protected], www.fondationbeyeler.ch Fondation Beyeler, Beyeler Museum AG, Baselstrasse 77, CH-4125 Riehen Öffnungszeiten der Fondation Beyeler: täglich 10.00–18.00 Uhr, mittwochs bis 20.00 Uhr Die Sammlung Die Sammlung Hildy und Ernst Beyeler besteht aus rund 300 Werken von über 40 Künstlern und vermittelt einen vielfältigen Einblick in die Kunst der klassischen Moderne und der Gegenwart. Sie beginnt mit dem Spät- und Postimpressionismus, mit Werken von Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh und Claude Monet. Der Bogen spannt sich weiter über den Kubismus mit Pablo Picasso und Georges Braque, sowie weiteren repräsentativen Werkgruppen von Joan Miró, Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse und Paul Klee. Darauf folgt der amerikanische Expressionismus mit Mark Rothko und Barnett Newman. Die Sammlung schliesst zeitlich mit Werken von Georg Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer und Neo Rauch ab. Hinzu kommen einige ausgewählte Skulpturen aus Afrika, Alaska und Ozeanien, die einen spannungsvollen Kontrapunkt zum europäisch-amerikanischen Kulturgut bilden. Gewachsen ist die Sammlung in mehr als fünfzig Jahren, parallel zur Tätigkeit in der Galerie Beyeler. Schon früh haben Hildy und Ernst Beyeler begonnen, Werke, die sie nicht verkaufen wollten oder konnten, beiseite zu stellen. In der Basler Galerie haben sie in den vierziger Jahren ihre ersten Ausstellungen durchgeführt, etwa mit japanischen Holzschnitten, mit Zeichnungen impressionistischer und spätimpressionistischer Künstler oder mit Grafiken von Toulouse-Lautrec. Die Galerie wurde alsbald zu einer ersten Adresse für Werke der inzwischen zur klassischen Moderne zählenden Künstler. Die erfolgreiche Galerietätigkeit legte somit den Grundstein zur heutigen Sammlung, etwa mit dem Kauf der Improvisation 10, einem Werk von Wassily Kandinsky von 1910. Wichtig war aber auch die persönliche Beziehung des Ehepaars Beyeler zu den einzelnen Künstlern, wie zum Beispiel die Freundschaft zu Picasso. Einige bedeutende Werke des Künstlers sind heute in einem der Hauptsäle der Fondation Beyeler zu sehen. Picassos Werke und eine Werkgruppe von Paul Klee gehören denn auch zu denjenigen, die das Profil der Sammlung von Anfang an bestimmten. Die Idee, eine Stiftung zu gründen, entstand erst in den siebziger Jahren, ohne jedoch sofort konkrete Formen anzunehmen. Vorerst ging es dem Ehepaar darum, das eigene Haus mit Kunst zu bestücken und einige der liebgewordenen Werke nicht mehr weiterziehen zu lassen, sondern mit ihnen zu leben. Erstmals öffentlich präsentiert wurde die bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt unbekannte Sammlung 1989 auf Einladung des spanischen Kultusministeriums im Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, wo sie internationale Beachtung erfuhr. In der Folge wurde und wird sie vom Sammlerehepaar mit grosser Aufmerksamkeit ergänzt. Die Qualität der Privatsammlung liegt in der Beschränkung und gleichzeitigen Konzentration auf eine Epoche. Der Umfang und das Renommee der Sammlung wachsen durch Neuerwerbungen bedeutender Werke beständig weiter. Dank der strikten Auswahl und der hohen Qualität der präsentierten Werke bietet sie mehr als nur die subjektive Sichtweise eines Sammlers, und sie vermittelt dem Besucher einen eindrücklichen Einblick in das Kunstschaffen des 20. Jahrhunderts. Die Sammlung Beyeler besteht zur Hauptsache aus Malerei sowie einigen Skulpturen und endet mit Werken von Baselitz, Kiefer und Rauch. Die konzeptuelle Kunst, die zweite Grundrichtung der modernen Kunstentwicklung und neuere über diese hinaus greifenden Tendenzen sind bewusst nicht vertreten. Ihnen wird aber im Rahmen der Sonderausstellungen Platz eingeräumt. Deren Aufgabe ist es unter anderem, den Dialog zur Gegenwart herzustellen und das Museum zu einem lebendigen Ort künstlerischer Auseinandersetzungen zu machen. Neben Sammlung, Architektur und Sonderausstellungen ist die Kunstvermittlung ein weiterer Schwerpunkt. Hinzu kommen Veranstaltungen, die das Ziel haben, »spartenübergreifend« den Blick auf die Kunst zu schärfen. Dieses Veranstaltungsangebot wird rege genutzt und bereichert das umfassende Angebot der Fondation
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