Basquiat, Dubuffet, Soulages... Une collection privée

The major exhibition of summer 2016 at the Fondation de l’Hermitage will be devoted to one of Europe’s most prestigious private collections, to be shown exclusively in Lausanne. The display of around a hundred artworks, including paintings, sculptures and installations, will offer visitors an unprecedented insight into western art of the 20th and 21th centuries.

Since it first opened in 1984, the Fondation de l’Hermitage has developed strong relationships of trust with private collectors in Switzerland and abroad. Over the years this has enabled us to host important collections including those of Florence Gould (1985), Ian Woodner (1992), Rolf and Margit Weinberg (1997), Jean Planque (2001), Arthur and Hedy Hahnloser (2010) and Jean Bonna (2015). The collection to be shown in 2016 has never before been seen by the public. It has been put together by a passionate art collector since the 1950s and is at once coherent and remarkably diverse.

The exhibition will offer an unusual insight into the modern and contemporary art scene, with a particular focus on the post-war period, Informal Art (Jean Dubuffet, Asger Jorn) and Neo-expressionism (Miquel Barceló, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anselm Kiefer). Other highlights of the collection include often minimalist pieces by Giuseppe Penone, Bertrand Lavier, Pierre Soulages and Niele Toroni, reflecting contemporary European art.

The collection also includes an impressive selection of American art, including conceptual and notably abstract expressionist works by artists such as by Carl Andre, Louise Bourgeois, Chris Burden, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Sean Scully, Mark Tobey and Cy Twombly. The public exhibition of this unique collection reflecting so many important voices will constitute a major event.

Forays into outsider and naïve art (Louis Soutter, André Bauchant), as well as portraits by Auguste Renoir, André Derain, Chaïm Soutine and Antonin Artaud, together with a serie of classic 18th and 19th centuries busts, complete the show, displaying a highly personal, sensitive and contrasting vision of western art.

Curators: Sylvie Wuhrmann, Director, Fondation de l’Hermitage, Lausanne, and Professor Didier Semin of the Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, Paris.

Catalogue: in partnership with Skira publishing house, the Fondation de l’Hermitage will produce a richly illustrated catalogue.