Kunstmuseum Basel

Kunstmuseum Basel houses the Galerie (Gallery) and the Kupferstichkabinett (Department of Prints and Drawings). The main focus is on paintings and drawings by artists active in the Upper Rhine region between 1400 and 1600 and of the 19th and 21st century. Kunstmuseum Basel possesses the world’s largest collection of works by the Holbein family. Further examples of Renaissance art include major pieces by masters such as Konrad Witz, Martin Schongauer, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Matthias Grünewald. Most of these early treasures originally belonged to the collection of a Basel lawyer, Basilius Amerbach. Purchased by the city in 1661, they formed the core of the world’s first public municipal museum. Paintings by Basel-born Arnold Böcklin feature among the 19th-century highlights. In the field of 20th-century art, the accent is on Cubism (Picasso, Braque, Léger), German Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism and American art since 1950. Contemporary art is exhibited at the Museum für Gegenwartskunst (Museum of Contemporary Art).

Originally conceived for the presentation of the museum’s collections, since the spring of 2016 the main building is once again entirely dedicated to its original purpose while the third venue across the street from the main building, connected to it by an underground passage, has been specifically designed by the local architects Christ & Gantenbein for great special exhibitions held in the skylighted galleries on the third floor.