![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/10d4ecb45e9b0f0c85122aa379c2cea738600b38-3543x2657.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nThe Mus\u00e9e des beaux-arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds in western Switzerland has had \u201ca pleasant surprise\u201d after a recent donation by the Swiss collector Philippe Bodenmann, initially thought to comprise 150 works, was found to contain 218, says David Lemaire, the museum\u2019s director. \u201cWhen we first announced the donation project to the political authorities [in 2025], not all of the portfolios had yet been opened and the inventory was not fully completed,\u201d he adds. \u201cThe 150 works initially announced were those that were visible at the collector\u2019s premises.\u201d <\/p>\n
Bodenmann\u2019s collection is being shown in its entirety for the first time in the museum’s exhibition Voyages en zigzag: La collection de Philippe Bodenmann (until 3 January 2027), which brings together works spanning Anglo-American conceptual art, Zurich Concrete art and the Swiss Neo-Geo scene. <\/p>\n
The collection includes several works by Joseph Kosuth, Lawrence Weiner and Royden Rabinowitch, as well as works by Olivier Mosset, Marcia Hafif and G\u00fcnther F\u00f6rg. It is particularly strong in British conceptual artists associated with walking as an artistic practice, notably Hamish Fulton and Richard Long. The gift also strengthens the museum\u2019s holdings of Zurich Concrete art, a historically important part of its identity, with several major paintings by Max Bill.<\/p>\n
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Philippe Bodenmann’s collection hung in his home office Courtesy of Mus\u00e9e des beaux-arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds<\/p>\n
Lemaire singles out Kosuth\u2019s 1985 Intentio (project) and Andreas Christen\u2019s untitled monochrome relief from 1998 as the two most important works for the museum. Both artists previously had solo exhibitions there, in 1985 and 1994 respectively, but until the donation the museum owned no works by Kosuth and only one by Christen.<\/p>\n
Lemaire describes Intentio (project) as \u201ca pivotal work in the artist\u2019s career\u201d, introducing \u201ca change in scale, the use of colour, and a much more complex engagement with text\u201d than Kosuth\u2019s earlier \u201ctautological\u201d works and Art as Idea as Idea series.<\/p>\n
Christen\u2019s 1998 work is \u201cparticularly spectacular\u201d, Lemaire says, adding that \u201cthanks to its relief, the human eye is unable to perceive that it is a monochrome. Moreover, the areas shaded by shadows change with the moving light.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bodenmann has placed no conditions on the gift. Lemaire describes it as \u201can act of great trust in our institution, which he has known for more than 40 years\u201d. Given the collection\u2019s coherence, he says, it is important to Bodenmann that it be offered as a whole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mus\u00e9e des beaux-arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds in western Switzerland has had \u201ca pleasant surprise\u201d after a recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[21256,307,304,305,306,308,33633,93,61,60,10160,4540,8541,59982],"class_list":["post-624423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-acquisitions","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-donations","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-museum-acquisitions","tag-museums","tag-museums-heritage","tag-philanthropy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}