The architect Erwin Oberwiler (1935-2017) was first and foremost a tireless explorer of contemporary art. Beginning in 1958, he began building a long-term relationship with Swiss artists and galleries, starting a collection that reflected both his own tastes and the sheer vibrancy and diversity of the art scene in French- and German-speaking Switzerland.

Erwin Oberweiler was equally unrestrained by linguistic and stylistic borders. He collected works of geometric abstraction influenced by concrete art and works close to the new wave of expressionism in the early 1980s. Almost all the works he acquired were on paper, representing a large number of artists. Many were in early stages of their careers: some he followed for years, building a representative corpus of their oeuvre.

In partnership with MAMCO, the Musée des beaux-arts has taken ownership of the special collection of over one thousand works in Erwin Oberwiler’s memory. The exhibition presents just a fraction of his collection, offering visitors a survey of half a century of Swiss art comparable to Erwin Oberwiler’s own countless journeys discovering new creative visual talents across the country.

exhibited artists

Roger Ackling, Ian Anüll, John Armleder, Jean Arp, Anette Barcelo, Stéphane Brunner, François Burland, Claudia Comte, Caroline Corbasson, Remi Dall’Aglio, Karin Daan, Philippe Decrauzat, Sonia Delaunay, Franz Eggenschwiler, Hans Fischli, Christian Floquet, Susanne Fankhauser, Sol LeWitt, Massimo Furlan, Hans Jörg Glattfelder, Camille Graeser, Michel Grillet, Mireille Gros, Fabrice Gygi, Sidney Thomas Guberman, Alex Hanimann, Rut Himmelsbach, Thomas Huber, Alain Huck, Jean-Michel Jaquet, Aloïs Lichtsteiner, Richard-Paul Lohse, Verena Loewensberg, Jean-Luc Manz, Genêt Mayor, Joseph Felix Müller, Aurélie Nemours, Karim Noureldin, Guido Nussbaum, Jean Otth, Landry Pascal, Raymond Pettibon, Markus Raetz, Rolf Rappaz, Didier Rittener, Julie Rrap, Hans Schärer, Annelies Strba, Hugo Suter, André Thomkins, Miriam Tinguely, Christa Van Santen, Sonja Vincent, Franz Eckhart Walther, Franz Wanner, Rolf Winnewisser