Kunstmuseum Basel Museum

Address: Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland

Website: https://kunstmuseumbasel.ch/en/

Hours: Tue-Sun 10am-5pm, closed Mondays

The Kunstmuseum Basel is the principal art museum in Basel, Switzerland, and is built on one of Europe’s long-established public art collections, covering art from the late medieval period to the present.

Its displays include medieval and Renaissance paintings, substantial 19th- and 20th-century holdings, and modern and contemporary works. The museum’s facilities were expanded with a new building that opened in 2016 to increase exhibition space for contemporary art.

The museum’s collection traces institutional roots back several centuries and has been publicly accessible for a long period, forming a continuous civic collection. The 2016 extension was added to meet the needs of displaying larger contemporary collections and temporary exhibitions.

Located in central Basel near the historic core of the city, the Kunstmuseum sits within the cultural quarter and is readily walkable from the Rhine and Basel’s main transport hubs.

• Long-established public collection: Holds one of the oldest public art collections in Europe with strong holdings from the late medieval period through modern art.
• Significant collections: Notable for paintings by Hans Holbein the Younger and substantial 19th- and 20th-century collections.

What to See#

• Main building: The museum’s historic main building houses the older parts of the collection, including works from the late medieval and Renaissance periods and 19th-century holdings.
• New building (2016): A major extension completed in 2016 added contemporary galleries and exhibition space, expanding display capacity for 20th- and 21st-century art.

Kunstmuseum Basel sits in central Basel near St. Alban-Graben by the Rhine. It’s roughly a 10-15 minute walk from Basel SBB station; numerous local trams and buses also stop near the museum for an even shorter walk. The museum is easily reached on foot from Basel city centre.

• Visit on a weekday morning to avoid weekend crowds and school groups and to have more space for the permanent collection's highlights.
• Check the museum's website for current temporary exhibitions and guided-tour times before you go - the museum organizes rotating shows that can be the main reason to visit on a particular day.
• Allow time to move between the museum's different chronological collections (old masters to moderns) rather than rushing one floor - many visitors focus on the big names and miss smaller thematic displays.