Kunstmuseum Basel: The World's Oldest Public Art Collection

The Kunstmuseum Basel, founded in 1671, is the oldest public art collection in the world. Its holdings began with the 1661 acquisition of the Amerbach family collection by the city and university. The museum comprises three buildings: the Hauptbau (1936, by Rudolf Christ and Paul Bonatz), housing Old Masters; the Gegenwart (1980, by Steib+Steib), dedicated to contemporary art; and the Neubau (2016, by Christ & Gantenbein), which connects the two and hosts special exhibitions and postwar art. The collection spans from Holbein (the richest collection globally) and Cranach the Elder to Monet, van Gogh, Cubism, Expressionism, Rothko, Pop Art, Minimalism, Joseph Beuys, and contemporary artists like Simon Starling, Olafur Eliasson, Pierre Huyghe, and Gabriel Orozco. Key acquisitions include works of 'degenerate art' purchased in 1939 under director Georg Schmidt, and the 1967 public fundraising of 2.4 million Swiss francs to buy two Picassos, prompting the artist to donate four more works and Maja Sacher-Stehlin to donate another. The collection also benefits from the Emanuel Hoffman Foundation (since 1941), the Alberto Giacometti Foundation (22 works on permanent loan), the Raoul La Roche donation (Cubist works), the Arp-Hagenbach donation (1968), and the Im Obersteg Foundation permanent loan (2004). In February 2019, the Christoph Merian Foundation donated seven works by Picasso, Giacometti, Klee, Léger, and Dubuffet.