Videos Higlights Collection

Vincent van Gogh Sunflowers, 1887

The sunflower is a recurrent motif in Vincent van Gogh’s artworks, and is also depicted in this oil painting. Are you curious about what symbolic meaning the sunflower had for this artist?

Gustave Courbet Awakening, 1866

Female couples play a significant part in the realist artist Gustave Courbet’s works. Learn more about this very sensual painting that so palpably illustrates the physical intimacy of the two young women.

Caspar Wolf The Black Lütschine River, springing forth from the Lower Grindelwald Glacier, 1777

Learn more about the oil painting depicting the Grindelwald Glacier, which was executed around 1777 by the famous Swiss landscape painter Caspar Wolf. The painting served as a model for a copperplate engraving that was, during the artist's lifetime, sold to tourists as a souvenir in folders containing various Alpine scenes.

Niklaus Manuel Deutsch St. Luke Painting the Virgin, 1515

Do you know who the patron saint of painters is since early medieval times? Learn more about the artist Niklaus Manuel Deutsch and his work. From the podcast series featuring highlights of the Kunstmuseum Bern’s collection.

Paul Klee Ad Parnassum, 1932

What is depicted in this work: a pyramid, the mountain of the Muses, or Niesen of the Swiss Alps? Learn more about the painting and its artist Paul Klee, who decisively influenced 20th-century art with his highly diverse work.

Juan Gris The Album, 1926

Juan Gris reduced figures and objects to their basic forms and shapes in his paintings. He also combined motifs such as guitars, drinking glasses, and pieces of fruit in ever new compositions. Juan Gris belongs to the leading representatives of cubism together with Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.

Paul Cézanne Self-Portrait with Black Felt Hat, around 1879

Highlights of the Collection

How did the artist Paul Cézanne see and portray himself? Learn more about the French artist and his self-portrait.

Pablo Picasso The Sleepy Drinker, 1902

During his Blue Period Picasso executed this painting of a young female drinker who has fallen asleep. Learn more about the story behind the woman in the painting as well as about the painting itself.

Ferdinand Hodler The Night, 1889/90

The symbolist oil painting "Night" depicts seven sleeping figures. The famous Swiss painter portrayed himself between his wife Bertha Stucki and his mistress Augustine Dupin. The painting is one of Hodler's most famous paintings besides "Day".

Albert Anker Nursery School on the Kirchenfeld bridge, 1900

Learn more about Albert Anker's painting depicting the children of a day nursery walking over the Bernese Kirchenfeld bridge. The work is one of this famous artist's last large-format oil paintings.

Sean Scully Grey Wolf, 2007

The Irish artist Sean Scully paints one color field next to the other. Learn more about how this artist's energy and emotions are expressed in the medium of paint.

Arnold Böcklin Spring Day, 1883

Learn more about these two lovers who meet on a spring day in the garden of an Italian country house. The renowned Swiss painter Arnold Böcklin was a prominent symbolist artist.

Duccio di Buoninsegna Maestà, around 1290-1295

Duccio di Buoninsegna's painting of the Virgin as the Mother of God with the child Jesus still fascinates us today. Learn more about this richly decorated devotional image that the Sienese painter executed while also working on the famous Madonna Rucellai.

Edouard Manet Garden Walk at Reuil, 1882

The famous impressionist painter Edouard Manet lived in the country house portrayed in the oil painting. The approach is a tree-lined path into a bright and sunny garden.

Meret Oppenheim Enchantment, 1962

Be enchanted by Meret Oppenheim's surrealist dream world. Learn more about this famous Swiss female artist's enigmatic picture.

Georges Braque Houses in l'Estaque, 1908

Georges Braque's painting shows the houses of a French fishing village not far from Marseille. Learn more about this famous cubist landscape painting.

Franz Niklaus König The Staubbach Falls, 1803

The Staubbach waterfall in Lauterbrunnen Valley situated in the Bernese Oberland is still an attraction for tourists today. Learn more about the Swiss painter König and his sources of inspiration, e.g. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's famous poem "Song of the Spirits over the Waters". From the podcast series on the highlights of the Kunstmuseum Bern Collection.

Kurt Schwitters Dislocated Forces (Merz picture), 1920

The collage by the dada artist Kurt Schwitters was painted shortly after the First World War. Learn more about this Merz picture that was assembled and glued together out of all kinds of everyday objects.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Sunday in the Alps; Scene at the Well, 1923-1925

Learn more about this expressionist painting of a group of country people on alpine meadows close to Davos. This is one of Ludwig Kirchner's largest paintings. He was one of the most famous of the Brücke artists.