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To coincide with the coming autumn exhibition Kirchner x Kirchner (12.9.2025–11.1.2026), Kunstmuseum Bern is showing an extensive display of works of Swiss art from the Museum’s collection. Featuring selected works by artists from Caspar Wolf to Ferdinand Hodler, between 15 August 2025 and 5 July 2026 Panorama Switzerland opens up a unique overview of three centuries of Swiss art.
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Cédric Zubler
Communication & Media relations
press@kunstmuseumbern.ch
+41 31 328 09 93One of the treasures of the Kunstmuseum Bern is the significant holding of works of early art. From 13 February to 27 September 2026, the museum is putting this part of its collection at the centre with the exhibition Life in Full. Old Masters from Duccio to Liotard. Alongside masters from the early modern period, the exhibition features works of Florentine and Sienese painting from the Trecento and Quattrocento as well as masterpieces of the Baroque. A fascinating exhibition that reflects the full range of life: martyrdom meets grandstanding, asceticism encounters opulence, virtue confronts lust.
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Martina Witschi
Communication & Media relations
press@kunstmuseumbern.ch
+41 31 328 09 93Auch 2025 konnten das Kunstmuseum Bern und das Zentrum Paul Klee 258'940 Besucher:innen verzeichnen. Besonders erfolgreich waren die grossen Ausstellungen zu Le Corbusier und Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. 2025 war auch ein Jahr der Jubiläen der beiden Kulturinstitutionen. Das Zentrum Paul Klee feierte sein 20-jähriges Bestehen und im Kunstmuseum Bern konnten 150 Jahre seit der Gründung der Stiftung zur Errichtung eines Kunstmuseums gefeiert werden.
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The following images and videos are available for media coverage with the copyright information. All copyright rights are reserved. The image captions must be fully adopted and the works must be reproduced as depicted.
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Martina Witschi
Kommunikation & Medienarbeit
press@kunstmuseumbern.ch
+41 31 328 09 93With two major special exhibitions and two comprehensive presentations of the collection, in 2026 the Kunstmuseum Bern is offering a programme of rediscoveries and new discoveries. The presentation Panorama Switzerland, extended until July, shows Swiss art from three centuries, including many highlights from artists such as Albert Anker, Ferdinand Hodler and Martha Stettler. With Life in Full. Old Masters from Duccio to Liotard, the Kunstmuseum Bern presents treasures from its collection of Old Masters. Also, all the works from the Stiftung Expressionismus (Expressionism Foundation) are being shown together for the first time. August sees the opening of the spectacular double retrospective Franz Gertsch. Blow-Up, organized in collaboration with the Franz Gertsch Museum. In the autumn, the exhibition Journey into Freedom leads us to dream destinations such as Skagen on the Danish North Sea coast, Monte Verità in the Ticino and the South Italian island of Capri.
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The following images and videos are available for media coverage with the copyright information. All copyright rights are reserved. The image captions must be fully adopted and the works must be reproduced as depicted.
The exhibition Stiftung Expressionismus. From Gabriele Münter to Sam Francis is showing the collection of the Stiftung Expressionismus (Expressionism Foundation), associated with the Kunstmuseum Bern, in its entirety for the first time. The collection consists of 25 outstanding works, and was assembled by the Bern family of Hans Rudolf and Silvia Tschumi. The portfolio includes expressive positions from a whole century with focuses on German and Swiss expressionism as well as international expressive post-war art. The presentation can be seen from 5.12.2025 until 5.7.2026.
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The following images and videos are available for media coverage with the copyright information. All copyright rights are reserved. The image captions must be fully adopted and the works must be reproduced as depicted.
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Dr. Anne-Cécile Foulon
Head of Communication & Marketing
press@kunstmuseumbern.ch
+41 31 328 09 93Am 26. Oktober 2025 lädt das Kunstmuseum Bern zum AlpSonntag ein, einem festlichen Tag voller Alpenfeeling. Inspiriert von Ernst Ludwig Kirchners monumentalem Gemälde Alpsonntag. Szene am Brunnen feiern wir mit geselligem Beisammensein bei einem bäuerlichen Brunch, mit Live-Musik und einem vielseitigen Programm für Gross und Klein.
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The following images and videos are available for media coverage with the copyright information. All copyright rights are reserved. The image captions must be fully adopted and the works must be reproduced as depicted.
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Cédric Zubler
Kommunikation & Medienarbeit
press@kunstmuseumbern.ch
+41 31 328 09 9310.9.2025
Medienmitteilung
Entscheid Grosser Rat über Projektierungskredit Projekt «Zukunft Kunstmuseum Bern»
Der Grosse Rat des Kantons Bern hat an seiner Sitzung vom 10. September 2025 dem Projektierungskredit von 15,7 Millionen Franken für das Sanierungs- und Ersatzneubauprojekt «Eiger» des Kunstmuseum Bern mit grosser Mehrheit zugestimmt. Damit stellt er die Weichen für die Zukunft des Kunstmuseum Bern neu.
Mit dem vom Grossen Rat des Kantons Bern gesprochenen Kredit kann die Detailplanung des Siegerprojekts «Eiger» vorangetrieben werden. Das Projekt ging aus einem internationalen Wettbewerb hervor und sieht die Sanierung des historischen Stettlerbaus, den Ersatz des stark sanierungsbedürftigen Erweiterungsbaus von 1983 durch einen zeitlosen Neubau mit vorgelagertem Museumsplatz und den Einbezug des Gebäudes Hodlerstrasse 6 in das Ensemble vor.
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The following images and videos are available for media coverage with the copyright information. All copyright rights are reserved. The image captions must be fully adopted and the works must be reproduced as depicted.
Kontakt
Anne-Cécile Foulon
Abteilungsleiterin Kommunikation & Marketing
press@kunstmuseumbern.ch
+41 31 328 09 93Kunstmuseum Bern: Die Zukunft entscheidet sich 150 Jahre nach Gründung der «Corporation Bernisches Kunstmuseum»
Das Kunstmuseum Bern feiert im September 2025 das 150-jährige Jubiläum der «Corporation Bernisches Kunstmuseum» – der heutigen Stiftung Kunstmuseum Bern. Die Gründung der Corporation erfolgte durch den Kanton Bern, die Stadt Bern, die Burgergemeinde Bern, den Bernischen Kantonal-Kunstverein sowie die Bernische Künstlergesellschaft. Ihr Ziel war das Errichten eines Kunstmuseums in Bern sowie der spätere Betrieb. Ein wichtiger Unterstützer war der Künstler und damalige Grossrat Albert Anker.
Genau 150 Jahre nach Unterzeichnung der Statuten entscheidet der Grosse Rat des Kantons Bern in seiner Herbstsession über die Zukunft der Institution.Downloads
Images
The following images and videos are available for media coverage with the copyright information. All copyright rights are reserved. The image captions must be fully adopted and the works must be reproduced as depicted.
Kontakt
Dr. Anne-Cécile Foulon
Abteilungsleiterin Kommunikation & Marketing
press@kunstmuseumbern.ch
+41 31 328 09 93Sunday of the Mountain Farmers, a major work by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, has left the Chancellery in Berlin, and is coming as a guest to Kunstmuseum Bern for the exhibition Kirchner x Kirchner (12.9.2025- 11.1.2026)
Today, after 50 years in the cabinet room, Ernst Ludwg Kirchner’s oil painting Sonntag der Bergbauern (Sunday of the Mountain Farmers) is leaving the Federal Chancellery, and will be shown from 12 September 2025 in the exhibition Kirchner x Kirchner in Kunstmuseum Bern.
The painting is known to a wide public by the fact that it is visible evening after evening on the German television news in the background of the German government’s Cabinet sessions.
Because of the monumental dimensions of the oil painting, which is 4 m long and 1.70 m high, the artwork had to be carried over the terrace of the Federal Chancellery and heaved down into the Court of Honour with a crane. After this, the painting Neue Sterne (New Stars) Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985) from the collection of Kunstmuseum Bern was lifted by crane. Kunstmuseum Bern is lending the Federal Chancellery the painting by one of the most important Swiss painters of the 20th century in return.
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Images
The following images and videos are available for media coverage with the copyright information. All copyright rights are reserved. The image captions must be fully adopted and the works must be reproduced as depicted.
Contact
Anne-Cécile Foulon
Head of Communication & Marketing
press@kunstmuseumbern.ch
+41 31 328 09 93Between 12 September 2025 and 11 January 2026, Kunstmuseum Bern is showing the exhibition Kirchner x Kirchner. It features some 65 high-calibre works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) that have rarely been shown in Switzerland. The artist is one of the most outstanding protagonists of modern art. With this exhibition, Kunstmuseum Bern is recalling the most extensive retrospective in the artist’s lifetime, which was held in 1933 in Kunsthalle Bern, and which he himself curated. For the first time, Kirchner x Kirchner places the artist as the curator of his own work at the centre, and shows how he interpreted and presented some works from his artistic career through deliberate juxtapositions and reworkings. One highlight is the reunification of Sunday in the Alps. Scene at the Well from the collection of Kunstmuseum Bern and its pendant, Mountain Peasants on Sunday from the German Federal Chancellery.
Contact
Anne-Cécile Foulon
Head of Communication & Marketing
press@kunstmuseumbern.ch
+41 31 328 09 93
