Art history in the purest sense of the term: 800 years concentrated in 3,000 paintings and sculptures, 55,000 hand drawings, printed graphics, photographs and videos. The works extend from Duccio and Fra Angelico via Swiss paintings by Niklaus Manuel, Albert Anker and Ferdinand Hodler to the modern classics and the latest exponents of contemporary art. Impressionism, expressionism, cubism, surrealism: all are represented with the finest names like Picasso, Braque, Kirchner, Klee, Kandinsky and Dalí. Large groups of works by Meret Oppenheim, Franz Gertsch and Markus Raetz are
further highlights.
The Museum of Fine Arts Bern does not just look back at the past with special exhibitions (e.g. in 2008: «Ferdinand Hodler. A Symbolist Vision»). The Department of Contemporary Art with its planned new building emphasises the fact that it is one of Switzerland’s leading art galleries.