Kunstmuseum Basel

Today we passed on the hustle and bustle of the art fairs and visited the Kunstmuseum Basel.

The main collecting focus of the Kunstmuseum Basel is paintings and drawings by artists active in the Upper Rhine Region from 1400 to 1600 and of the 19th and 20th centuries.  It houses the largest collection of works by the Holbein family including The Dead Christ in the Tomb by Hans Holbein the Younger.

In addition to its permanent collection, the Kunstmuseum presented two special exhibitions: the photographs and drawings of Ed Ruscha's Los Angeles Apartments series and a Picasso exhibition entitled Die Picassos sin da! (translation: The Picassos are Here!).  Drawn exclusively from private and public Basel collections, the show included works in the Kunstmuseum's permanent collection as well as those of the Fondation Beyeler (shown together for the first time).

Two studies for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, one a gift of Picasso himself

How does one relax after the excitement of so many Picassos in one place?  Why, with a Picasso-inspired beer of course!  Created by a local microbrewery (the first in Basel, by some reports), this special brew contains absinthe and a hint of orange.