Fondation Beyeler
The Fondation Beyeler is a museum of modern and contemporary art open 365 days a year. It is considered one of the world's most beautiful museums. Its exhibitions of renowned artists of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries have brought the museum international recognition and established it as one of the most popular art museums in Switzerland. The focus is the visitor's personal and sensory experiences in encountering art and nature.
The art museum is located in an English park with a historical villa, old trees, and water lily ponds. The museum building, designed by award-winning Italian architect Renzo Piano, fits elegantly into the cultural landscape and offers beautiful views of the park, cornfields, grazing cows and sheep, as well as the vineyards at the foothills of the Black Forest. The spacious rooms showcase the art in the most beautiful natural light. A green conservatory invites you to linger and read. The Fondation Beyeler combines nature, art, and architecture in a unique harmony.
It presents high-quality art to a wide audience and seeks especially to reach young people. This was especially important to the founders, Ernst and Hildy Beyeler. It was for this reason that they founded the Beyeler Stiftung in 1982 and in 1997 opened the Fondation Beyeler in their hometown of Riehen near Basel. They gave the Fondation their valuable art collection and donated the renowned museum building by Renzo Piano to house it. Since the founder's death, the Beyeler Foundation is overseen by the Board of Trustees, presided by Hansjörg Wyss. Sam Keller has been the director of the Fondation Beyeler since 2008. The Beyeler Stiftung recently acquired the neighboring Iselin-Weber-Park and is planning an extension with Swiss architect Peter Zumthor.