Featured Events in Basel in February, 2025 (July Updated)

The exhibition shines a light on the lives of artworks before they came to hang on museum walls, showing traces of their circulation in other contexts and their different functions. Find winged altarpieces, painted on both sides so that they could be displayed differently throughout the liturgical year, and coats of arms that were discretely attached to the backside of objects by their owners, or painted panels that had been simply turned over and reused. There’s even a double-sided advertising panel made by Ambrosius and Hans Holbein the Younger as well as paintings specially designed to be picked up and turned over. Verso thus offers new perspectives on artworks, not just by famous names such as Hans Baldung (also known as Grien), Lucas Cranach, and Konrad Witz, but also others that deserve a second look.

The exhibition "Paarlauf" was held at the Kunstmuseum Basel to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Im Obersteg collection. The exhibition uses an associative exhibition concept to present artworks from Im Obersteg's private collection and the Kunstmuseum Basel collection, exploring the cross-generational dialogue and imagination of art. The exhibition dynamically rotates exhibits, publicly exhibits Marc Chagall's works on paper for the first time, and invites musicians to record matching tracks for the exhibits, creating a unique dialogue between art and music.

Marie Matusz (* 1994) stellt in ihrer künstlerischen Praxis immer wieder Polaritäten her, indem sie Verletzlichkeit und Widerstand in ein produktives Spannungsverhältnis bringt. Dieses künstlerische Anliegen wird die in Toulouse geborene Basler Künstlerin mit ihrem ersten monumentalen, ortspezifischen Projekt im öffentlichen Raum an der Rückwand der Kunsthalle Basel weiter ausarbeiten.

Marie Matusz (*1994) regularly establishes polarities in her artistic practice, placing vulnerability and resilience in productive tension. The Toulouse-born, Basel-based artist extends these concerns as she presents her first monumental, site-specific project for public space, spanning the back wall of Kunsthalle Basel.

The second exhibition in our Basel gallery is titled ‘Körperlich,’ meaning ‘bodily’ in English. A group show of women artists, the exhibition explores the body’s role in the construction and expression of identity through works by Louise Bourgeois, Maria Lassnig, Meret Oppenheim, Alina Szapocznikow, Irène Zurkinden, Lee Lozano, Hannah Villiger and Carol Rama.

The Portuguese-British artist Paula Rego (1935–2022) is one of the most important and exciting figurative painters of recent decades. The Kunstmuseum Basel is her first exhibition in Switzerland and presents key works from her oeuvre, which spans more than half a century.