|
The museum was opened during the founder's lifetime in 1951, following the conversion of the Alte Gymnasium (built by Leonhart Zeugheer in 1838-42) into a museum. The exhibition, which represents one of the finest collections of its kind, comprises nearly 600 works by German, Swiss and Austrian painters from the 18th to 20th centuries. Swiss paintings ranging from Liotard via Füssli, Graff, Wolf, Agasse, Böcklin and Anker right up to Hodler, Segantini and Giacometti are particularly well represented, and emphasis also falls on German Romanticism (Friedrich, Runge, Kersting, Blechen and Spitzweg), the Biedermeier Period, Realism and Idealism (Waldmüller, Menzel, Thoma, Leibl, Feuerbach and Marées) and Impressionism (Uhde, Liebermann and Slevogt). The conversion of the 3rd floor by the architect Johann Frei in 1995 created additional space for changing exhibitions.
|