This exhibition is the first encounter of the two icons of 20th century Swiss art in a single show: Ferdinand Hodler and Alberto Giacometti.

2018 marks the 100th anniversary of Ferdinand Hodler’s death – a reason to honour the oeuvre of this outstanding Swiss painter at the beginning of modernism and to approach his work with a radically different view. In a dialogue with Alberto Giacometti, one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century, Hodler is not negotiated in the context of his own era, but re-examined completely.

Whereas Hodler’s impressive depictions of Alpine landscapes maintain a secure position in Helvetic iconography, Giacometti’s figures are exemplary of post-war existentialism. Their juxtaposition reveals astonishing pictural parallels, for instance in the tentative search for form in the drawings, but especially in the questioning of human existence. Therefore, the artists’ works are examined in respect to their content as well as their relevance for future generations – and thus also for us today.