To spot the Solothurn Museum of Art, look ahead for a grand cream-colored building with tall arched windows and stately columns, nestled between towering evergreen trees and surrounded by a peaceful garden.
Welcome to the Kunstmuseum Solothurn! Picture yourself stepping back in time to 1902, when this impressive museum first opened its doors as the “Museum of Art and Sciences.” Back then, it was the ultimate cabinet of curiosities-its halls filled not only with masterpieces, but also things like a mammoth tooth, a swamp crocodile, and even a so-called “ethnological collection.” In those days, curious Solothurners would wander past mysterious objects from foreign continents, as the spirit of adventure was as thick in the air as the dust on the old exhibits. A typical visitor might have heard the as they strolled between glittering beetles, ancient bones, and bizarre relics of colonial travel.
That mix of science and art came with its own cloud of odd stories and even stranger beliefs. Imagine the eccentric naturalists of Solothurn, busy labeling a bizarre jumble of skulls, Japanese trinkets, and a crocodile, all in the same corner. Sometimes, it must have felt like a mad scientist’s attic! The so-called science of the time was, let’s just say, not the most enlightened, and thankfully, those strange and problematic studies vanished in the 1970s. The weirdest things left behind? Some truly exotic trees in the garden-including a mighty sequoia, a living relic of the museum’s more adventurous days.
With new space freed up, the museum transformed into a true temple of art. Today, as sunlight sparkles off the modern glass and stone, you’ll find one of Switzerland’s richest collections. The paintings inside stretch from the late Middle Ages to the present. Look out for small but mighty masterpieces, like the “Madonna in the Strawberries,” painted around 1425, and Hans Holbein’s famous “Solothurn Madonna” from 1522. Swiss landscapes blossom across the walls-think snow-topped peaks and shimmering lakes painted by artists like Caspar Wolf and Ferdinand Hodler.
The museum is especially proud of its Solothurn-born stars. Frank Buchser brought adventures from around the globe back to these rooms, Otto Frölicher painted home scenes with heartfelt detail, and Cuno Amiet’s colorful creations marked the leap from art nouveau to modernism. More recent icons like Jean Tinguely bring iron sculptures that might clang and clatter just as you pass by.
The story here is one of change-old bones and wild trophies replaced by bold colors, modern masterpieces, and art that keeps growing with every decade. As you stand outside, listen to the breeze through those ancient trees and imagine all the chapters this building has lived through. Who knows? Maybe you’ll leave with your own story to add.
