Kunstmuseum Thun

Profile

The Kunstmuseum Thun presents annually five to six large temporary exhibitions mainly contemporary art. Current positions provide an important impetus to establish the public and the museum beyond the region. In addition to thematic and monographic exhibitions per year, a focused exhibition of the collection is set up, which presents some of the rich collections at a particular angle.


The Collection:

In the 1940s the artist Alfred Glaus, the retired city councillor Fritz Lehner, and the retired city president Paul Kunz began the search for a suitable exhibition venue for the works of art owned by the city at the time. In summer 1948 an art commission chaired by Fritz Lehner was appointed and Alfred Glaus entrusted with the task of ordering, maintaining and managing the collection. In autumn of the same year, rooms on the ground floor of the former "Grand Hotel" Thunerhof, built in 1875 by Adolphe Tièche, were made available for the purpose of exhibiting works of art. The art museum has been housed in the Thunerhof since then.

The basis of the collection
The basis of the collection is a number of paintings taken over from the various departments of the city administration. An extensive stock of graphic art was donated to the museum by the Landammann Carl Friedrich Ludwig Lohner. This was followed by a collection of Thun vedute (mainly by minor Swiss artists) and hand drawings and graphic art by the Thun artist Werner Engel. The artist Fred Hopf left behind him a considerable oeuvre and the museum was able to acquire that estate.

represented artists

Cuno Amiet      René Auberjonois      Ferdinand Hodler      Johannes Itten      Paul Klee

Chantal Michel      Meret Oppenheim      Varlin