Max Ernst. In the Garden of Nymph Ancolie

12 September 2007 – 27 January 2008

The artist Max Ernst was born in Brühl near Cologne in 1891 and died in Paris in 1976. The exhibition in Basel assembles around 150 of his works, some of which, on loan from international museums and galleries as well as private collectors, have rarely, and in certain cases never before, been shown in public.

This will therefore be the first comprehensive overview of the multifaceted œuvre of this painter, collagist and sculptor to be held in Switzerland since several decades. Throughout his life, Ernst was interested in exploring big issues – from Eros and Thanatos to the unconscious, the origins and metamorphoses of nature to their appropriation and co-option by man.

Ernst’s genius resided in his adaptation and transformation of existing artistic techniques, to which he added completely new ones such as collage, grattage, frottage and decalcomania. By using these as a vehicle, and by referring repeatedly to his own body of work, he not only questioned, but revolutionised the art world with more lasting effect than almost any other twentieth century artist.
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The International Situationist : 1957 – 1972
In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni

4 April – 5 August 2007

The Museum Tinguely presents the most extensive exhibition hitherto on the Situationist International that was founded on July 28, 1957. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its foundation, 400 exhibits will illustrate this last important avant-garde movement that counted 72 artists among its members, with sections in Germany, Holland, America, North Africa and elsewhere, rescuing it from oblivion.
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