Swiss Museum's Bodenmann Donation Grows to 218 Works, Revealed in Unopened Portfolios

Key facts

• The Musée des beaux-arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds received 218 works from Philippe Bodenmann, not the 150 initially announced.
• The museum's director, David Lemaire, said the discrepancy arose because not all portfolios had been opened when the donation was announced to political authorities in 2025.
• The full collection is on view in the exhibition Voyages en zigzag: La collection de Philippe Bodenmann until 3 January 2027.
• The collection includes works by Joseph Kosuth, Lawrence Weiner, Royden Rabinowitch, Olivier Mosset, Marcia Hafif, Günther Förg, Hamish Fulton, Richard Long, and Max Bill.
• Lemaire singled out Kosuth's 1985 Intentio (project) and Andreas Christen's untitled 1998 monochrome relief as the most important works for the museum.
• The museum previously owned no works by Kosuth and only one by Christen, though both artists had solo exhibitions there in 1985 and 1994 respectively.
• Bodenmann placed no conditions on the gift, which Lemaire described as an act of great trust in an institution he has known for over 40 years.
• The collection is particularly strong in British conceptual artists associated with walking as an artistic practice and in Zurich Concrete art.