Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (Geneva)

The Musée d'art et d'histoire (French: [myze daʁ e distwaʁ də ʒənɛv]; Museum of Art and History; MAH) is an encyclopedic art museum located in Geneva, Switzerland. Its collection comprises more than 650,000 objects spanning archaeology, applied arts, horology, the holdings of the Art and Archaeology Library, and fine and graphic arts, making it one of the largest museum collections in Switzerland.^[4]

The museum heads the association for all art and historical museums in the city of Geneva, the Musées d'Art et d'Histoire.^[5] The other museums in this group are the Cabinet des Estampes (graphics), the Musée Ariana (porcelain), the Musée Rath (special exhibitions), the Maison Tavel (history of Geneva), and the Musée de l'Horlogerie et de l'Émaillerie (timepieces and enamels). The group also includes an art restoration studio, research laboratories, and an art and archaeology library with 400,000 books.

The museum as an institution dates back to 1826 and the Musée des Beaux-Arts, which opened in what is now the Musée Rath. The Musée Académique, whose exhibits covered natural history and archaeology, had also been recently founded (in 1818). The Musée des Beaux-Arts was acquired by the city of Geneva in 1851, which also received the State of Geneva's weapons collection and historical artefacts in 1870.^[6]

In the second half of the 19th century these various collections were enlarged through donations, making new exhibition rooms necessary. In 1897 the Société Auxiliaire du Musée de Genève was founded with the aim of creating a new museum.^[7] In 1900 the city of Geneva held an architecture competition to design a new building. The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire was finally built from 1903 to 1910 thanks to the bequest from Charles Galland. However, parts of the collection soon had to be sent out to new museums due to a lack of space.^[6]

The museum is located in Les Tranchées, in the city centre, on the site of the former fortification ring. It was built by the architect Marc Camoletti between 1903 and 1910,^[8] and financed by a bequest from the banker Charles Galland (1816–1901).^[6] The building is square, with 60 m (200 ft) sides surrounding an inner courtyard. It has four storeys, with roof lanterns on the top floor, and a total exhibition space of 7,000 m² (75,000 square feet).^[6]

The façade is decorated with sculptures by Paul Amlehn: an allegory of the arts, depicting painting, sculpture, drawing and architecture, is mounted on the triangular gable above the entrance, and two more allegories, of archaeology and applied art, can be seen in the left- and right-hand corners of the building respectively. The upper frieze includes the names of Genevan artists: Dassier, Baud-Bovy, Saint-Ours, Agasse, Töpffer, Liotard, Calame, Diday, Menn, Petitot, Arlaud and Pradier.^[6]

The fine art section has paintings from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, with works by the Italian, Dutch, French, English, Genevan and Swiss Schools. The best-known painting is "The Miraculous Draft of Fishes" (1444) by Konrad Witz, contained in Witz's St. Peter Altarpiece. Other major artists include Rembrandt, Cézanne, Modigliani, and the sculptor Rodin. The museum also has numerous works by Jean-Étienne Liotard, Ferdinand Hodler, Félix Vallotton, Edmond Jean de Pury, and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.^[9][10] The collection of works by the Genevan Neoclassical painter Jean-Pierre Saint-Ours (d. 1809) is much the best of any museum.

The Department of Works on Paper is one of the museum's major holdings and covers drawings, prints and illustrated books from the 15th century onward.^[11] It includes the world's largest collection of works by Jean-Étienne Liotard and a major group of works by Ferdinand Hodler, whose 241 sketchbooks in the MAH represent almost the entire known corpus.^[12][13] The department also holds an important collection of Japanese prints, including a set of 300 sheets acquired in 1937, with works by artists including Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige, Kitagawa Utamaro, Utagawa Kunisada and Kōshirō Onchi.^[14]

The applied art section has collections of Byzantine art, icons, weapons from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, silverware and tinware, musical instruments and textiles. The complete interior furnishing and wood panelling from several rooms of the Lower Castle Zizers (late 17th century) have been built into the museum.

The archaeology section displays findings from European prehistory, ancient Egypt (with a mummy from the 9th century BC),^[9] the Kerma culture of Sudan, the Near East, ancient Greece, and Roman and pre-Roman Italy, as well as a numismatic cabinet.

The department of watchmaking, enamelling, jewellery and miniatures preserves more than 20,000 objects, forming a heritage tied to Geneva's international image.^[15] Covering Genevan production as well as works made elsewhere in Switzerland and Europe since the 16th century, the collection places watchmaking and related crafts in their economic, social, cultural and historical context.^[16][17] Notable holdings include painted enamel miniatures by Jean Petitot and Jean-Étienne Liotard^[18][19]

• List of art museums
• List of museums in Switzerland
• Plainpalais

• Home page (partly available in English)