As of February 2015, more than 170 pieces of artwork from the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland have started to arrive in Madrid, Spain, for a special exhibit at the Reina Sofia modern art museum. The hundreds of pieces of art were ushered there by several police cars and travelled in special trucks that were climate controlled to keep the paintings safe.
The famous group of artwork offerings includes the work of well-known artists like Picasso, Warhol, Van Gogh, and Kandinsky, along with Giacometti, Monet, and Klee. It also includes the works of Gauguin, Rothko and Cezanne, as well as Munch and Leger. Plus, there are some of the works from Richter, Modigliani, and Gris.
The Reina Sofia Modern Art Museum will host the art for 180 days from March 18 to September 14. It is the first and last time much of it has ever been out of the country of Switzerland, so it is a once in a lifetime opportunity for people in Spain to see them. Currently, the Kunstmuseum is closed during a remodeling process, so this is part of the reason the Reina Sofia museum can borrow these famous art pieces.
As the artwork arrives at the Reina Sofia museum, each piece is checked out, a photo is taken of it and a report is made to confirm the state it’s in so that if necessary, the insurance company will know what it is protecting. Plus, the gallery they are to be displayed in is going to be set up based on the type of artwork and the way it should be displayed for best viewing, and other conditions.
According to the experts at the Reina Sofia museum, certain pieces of artwork can’t be displayed next to each other, for example, because they don’t work well placed in the same room for one reason or another due to their concept, etc. For instance, Impressionist works should be displayed so that people can see them close up, while other artists such as Warhol need much more space placed between the viewer and the piece of art, according to the museum experts setting up the galleries.
The exhibition is being split up into two parts: the first consists of 106 pieces of artwork and is to be called White Fire. It will show the manner in which modern art evolved from the 19th century to the present. It consists of sculptures, paintings, photos, video and collages. It will be shown on the museum’s ground floor.
The second part includes the remaining artwork and will be called Collectionism and Modernity. It consists of 60 works of art from the collections of Im Obersteg and Rudolf Staechelin. The artwork provides a viewpoint on current figurative paintings from the 19th century to about 1940.
The preparation for the exhibit is well underway and should be ready for viewers as of the March 18 starting date. The artwork was provided by the Kunstmuseum via a free loan and the Madrid government paid for transportation and exhibition costs.
