Agenda

Stained glass: its profusion of motifs and radiant luminosity have captivated viewers for centuries.

The Swiss National Museum owns one of the world’s largest collections of stained glassworks.

The exhibition (Colours revealed by light. Stained glass from the 13th to the 21st century) in the Hall of Fame showcases the art of stained glasswork in Switzerland in all its richly hued facets, from its origins in the Middle Ages through the Renaissance to the modern stained glass art of the present day.

Photos and old tools from the Halter stained glass studio in Bern give an insight into the elaborate technique involved in this handcraft, which has remained almost unchanged for around 800 years.

The theme of the Mengele  Dance of Death (Mengele-Totentanz) has a long tradition in this part of Europe dating back to the 15th century.

It reached its early climax around the mid-1430s. It had a multiple message. It reminded of the transience of life and the equality of all in death.

On 24 August 1986, a farm in Neyruz near Fribourg burned down. The house stood in the immediate vicinity of the studio of Jean Tinguely (1925-1991). This event inspired the artist to create a work, Mengele’s Dance of Death.

The artist reported that he had retrieved from the rubble parts of a maize press machine from the Mengele factory. Josef Mengele (1911-1979) was a doctor, the Angel of Death, in Auschwitz.

Tinguely was inspired by the Mengele company to name the whole ensemble. He removed the pieces from the farm because the large amount of burnt hay had given them a macabre appearance of destruction.

The centre of the 18-piece sculpture group is the high altar in the chapel-like space, made up of the parts of the Mengele company’s corn press. The work has been on display at the Tinguely Museum in Basel since 2017.

(Source: www.tinguely.ch).

500 years ago, Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) created the Dead Christ in the Tomb (Der Tote Christus im Grab), which has been part of the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, now the Kunstmuseum, since its foundation in 1662.

300 years later, in 1821, the Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostojevsky (1882-1881) was born. The painting by Holbein makes a memorable appearance in his novel The Idiot, which is based on a visit by the writer to the Basel Art Museum.

On the occasion of this double anniversary, the museum is organising a presentation on the Dead Christ in the Tomb.

New scientific findings on the painting will be made public for the first time. Historical photographs and texts as well as quotations from Dostojevsky’s novel The Idiot will complement the small exhibition.