The 25 outstanding works belonging to Stiftung Expressionismus (Expressionism Foundation), associated with Kunstmuseum Bern, were assembled by Hans Rudolf and Silvia Tschumi, a family from the Bern area. The exhibition marks the first time that the foundation’s collection has been shown in its entirety since its establishment in 2007.

As the son of the Bern collectors Walter and Gertrud Hadorn (-Tschumi), Hans Rudolf Tschumi came from a family of art lovers that had already made a generous donation to Kunstmuseum Bern in 1977. During the 1990s, Hans Rudolf and his wife Silvia began acquiring art themselves. Their point of departure was a shared enthusiasm for the expressive paintings produced by representatives of the ‘Informel’ and ‘Neue Wilde’ movements. Through lively exchanges with experts from the gallery and museum sector, they began to increasingly focus their attention on works of German and Swiss Expressionism and to build a collection. Eventually, in 2007, they founded the Expressionism Foundation with the aim of filling gaps in the collection of Kunstmuseum Bern and making their own collection accessible to the public. The initial group of 15 works grew over the years to 25 paintings, produced between 1906 and 1994. As a result, the collection encompasses expressive approaches from across an entire century, ones united in their pursuit of challenging the aesthetic conventions of the time.

The route through the exhibition follows the three main areas of interest characterising the foundation’s holdings. It begins with an impressive group of paintings by German Expressionists from the ‘Brücke’ (Bridge) and ‘Blauer Reiter’ (Blue Rider) groups, such as Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, Heinrich Campendonk, Gabriele Münter and Marianne von Werefkin. They are followed by works by Swiss Expressionists, including vividly coloured landscapes and portraits by Albert Müller and Hermann Scherer, who belonged to the Basel group Rot-Blau (Red-Blue). The exhibition culminates with expressive approaches in international post-war art, in works by such artists as Karel Appel, Sam Francis and Teruko Yokoi.

The 25 long-term loans represent a significant expansion of the collection with outstanding paintings. Kunstmuseum Bern is deeply grateful to the couple who established the foundation and their family for their invaluable commitment and generosity.

To accompany the exhibition Expressionism Foundation. From Gabriele Münter to Sam Francis, Kunstmuseum Bern is showing neo-expressionist works by Leiko Ikemura, Miriam Cahn, Martin Disler, Mimmo Paladino and Michael Buthe from its collection.

The works embody the painterly departure that occurred during the late 1970s and 1980s, a counter-development to art movements such as Minimal Art and Conceptual Art that were dominant at the time. Known in Germany as ‘Neue Wilde’ and in Italy as ‘Transavanguardia’, the artists linked to Neo-expressionism sought new ways of expressing their emotions and experiences.

Their provocative, rapidly and casually executed paintings are impressive in their energy, boldness and resistance to modernist notions of abstract geometric painting. Instead, employing urban motifs, bold brushstrokes and unmixed colours they drew on German Expressionism. Historical antecedents provided a treasure trove of motifs and imagery which were seamlessly and imaginatively combined with contemporary subject matter. Figurative painting became inflated to life size, celebrating the wildly fabricated, while also being socially critical of such issues as the strained relations between genders, the loss of the spiritual and the charged relationship between consumer society and the natural world.