The 8 Best Art Museums in Basel, Canton of Basel

The Kunstmuseum Basel is home to one of the largest and oldest public museum collections in Europe with works from the early fifteenth century to the present.

The Antikenmuseum Basel & Sammlung Ludwig is the only Swiss museum devoted exclusively to the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean region. The permanent exhibition contains ancient art mainly from Egyptian, Greek, Italic, Etruscan and Roman cultures. Located in the heart of the city of Basel, the museum is a place where the ancient world is regularly cast in a new light.

Dynamic, experimental, rigorous, open-minded, and accessible, Kunsthalle Basel is a place for audacious art and exhibitions by emerging artists. Established in 1872 by the Basler Kunstverein (Basel Art Association), Kunsthalle Basel is world renowned for engaging with pioneering practices in contemporary art. With its majestic, skylighted spaces, the Kunsthalle is a truly exceptional place to see art. It organizes about eight exhibitions per year, featuring international and Swiss artists. The shows often take innovative forms and involve newly commissioned works. Throughout the year the Kunsthalle also presents dynamic public programming-artists' talks, lectures, film screenings, and readings-to contextualize the featured artists' practices. Kunsthalle Basel looks back with pride on a long history of exhibitions that nurtured the development of art and supported, early in their careers, emerging artists who would go on to become part of art history. In the early twentieth century it hosted major solo shows by Edvard Munch, Paul Gauguin, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Vincent van Gogh, and Piet Mondrian. In subsequent decades it featured Jackson Pollock, Alighiero Boetti, Joan Jonas, Jeff Koons, and Richard Serra. And more recently we have been proud to present solo shows by Moyra Davey, Mark Leckey, Superflex, Piotr Uklanski, Danh Vo, and Anicka Yi, to name only a few.