Agenda

Early in 1519, Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) came to Zurich as a parish priest and sparked the Reformation in Switzerland. 500 years later, the Reformation is still considered one of the most formative events in Swiss history. The exhibition at the National Museum Zurich focuses attention on the argument over which is the true faith and highlights the origin of a new denomination. Animated films produced specifically for the exhibition bring the stories and conflicts of that time to life.

The exhibition focuses on Reformation as starting point of objects becoming art. The show unites some 60 works from the 16th to the 20th centuries. At its centre is Ferdinand Hodler’s ‘Unanimity’ in the stairwell of the Moser building. Selected works by Old Masters retrace the crisis of the religious image in the Reformation, while Italian Baroque paintings offer an insight into the religious art of the Counter-Reformation. At the beginning of the 19th century Zurich offers up some of the Nazarenes – a group of artists working in Rome who looked back to
the pre-Reformation church and art. Finally, the innovators of Concrete Art sought universal truths through their pure, almost Reformation-style painting and Piet Mondriaan (1872-1944) is being examined as a reformer pur sang.

The medieval Church had a solid financial- and tax administration. The incomes originated from agriculture, estates and other properties, and also from indulgencies and other questionable moneymakers.  The exhibition focuses on the moral, financial and religious aspects of the ambivalent attitude of the Church.