Museum Tinguely

Museum Tinguely seen from across the Rhine, Basel
Museum Tinguely exterior

The Museum Tinguely is an art museum in Basel, Switzerland, dedicated to the work of Swiss painter and sculptor Jean Tinguely (1925–1991).[1][2] Designed by architect Mario Botta, it opened in 1996 on the banks of the Rhine.[1] The museum holds the world’s largest collection of Tinguely’s works, ranging from early reliefs to large-scale kinetic sculptures.[1][2]

Collection

The museum’s permanent display includes Tinguely’s kinetic sculptures, together with illustrations, photographs, and archival materials related to his life and work.[3] Shortly after the museum opened, Niki de Saint Phalle donated more than 50 works from Tinguely’s estate.[3]

Exhibitions

The museum also organizes temporary exhibitions that engage with other artists, including Tinguely’s contemporaries and modern practitioners.[1][2]

In 2023, the Museum Tinguely introduced a new exhibition titled La roue = c’est tout, which revisits Tinguely’s pioneering contributions to kinetic art.[4] Upon entry, visitors encounter Éloge de la folie (1966), a large-scale relief originally created as a stage design for a ballet production in Paris.[4] The piece had been stored in a private collection for two decades before being acquired by the museum.[4] The exhibition also includes early Méta-Mécaniques, scrap-based machines from the 1960s, large Méta-Harmonies, and documentation of Tinguely’s collaborations with other artists.[4]

Also in 2023, the museum hosted The Last Reality Show, a conceptual installation by playwright Boris Nikitin.[5] The work featured a replica of the living container used in the first season of the reality television show Big Brother.[5] Originally created in 2020 for a theatre production in Germany, the installation was presented as a walk-through exhibit.[5] The museum described the installation as a counterpart to Tinguely’s engagement with the relationship between humans and machines.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Museum Tinguely". Basel Tourismus. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 "Museum Tinguely". Kunstbulletin. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Jean Tinguely Centennial". Niki Charitable Art Foundation. 22 May 2025. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Das Museum Tinguely stellt den Hauskünstler wieder ins Zentrum". Swissinfo. 7 February 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Museum Tinguely Basel spotlights 'Big Brother' living container". Swissinfo. 6 December 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
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