Switzerland has long been one of the most museum-dense countries in the world, with more than 1,100 museums for a population of only eight million. Each year, Swiss museums welcome close to 15 million visitors, and the country stages well over 200 Art exhibitions. This remarkable concentration of institutions and collections makes Switzerland a natural destination for art lovers who want both variety and depth in a single journey.
Against this cultural backdrop, the autumn season promises to be particularly rich. From large-scale retrospectives to intimate photographic explorations, the coming months offer a spectrum of experiences that stretch from Basel to Geneva, from Zurich to Lausanne and Winterthur. These are not routine shows but moments that crystallise ideas, memories and visions at a time when audiences are seeking both reflection and wonder.
In this guide, I have selected eight standout Art exhibitions in Switzerland that no curious eye should miss. The list follows the calendar, from those already open to those soon to begin, giving a sense of rhythm to the season. Each section will explain what the exhibition is about, why it matters, and how to find it. Think of it as your map to the brightest cultural encounters of the Swiss autumn.
Soleil.s at Mudac Lausanne.
Some exhibitions feel timely, and then some seem inevitable. Soleil.s at Mudac belongs to the latter category. Extended until early October, this ambitious presentation explores our most ancient yet most urgent relationship: the bond between humankind and the Sun. The curatorial approach is not limited to art. It draws on design, science, film, and philosophy, transforming the museum into an interdisciplinary stage. Visitors move through installations, objects, videos and immersive spaces that examine the Sun’s cultural role and its new urgency in an age of climate anxiety.
What makes Soleil.s compelling is its ability to move between scales. On the one hand, it recalls millennia of mythology, ritual, and symbolism attached to the Sun. On the other hand, it confronts us with the material questions of energy, technology and ecology that define today’s planetary challenges. New commissions from contemporary artists stand alongside archival documents, design prototypes and experimental devices, creating a dialogue between memory and invention. The exhibition resonates with a world currently recalibrating its dependence on fossil fuels and rediscovering solar power as a promise of survival.
This is not an exhibition that preaches. It prompts us to look again, encouraging us to feel the Sun as both a source of inspiration and a practical force. It is rare to encounter a show where aesthetic experience and ecological relevance intertwine so seamlessly. Visitors leave not just informed but illuminated, in every sense of the word.
Museum: Mudac, musée cantonal de design et d’arts appliqués contemporains, Place de la Gare 17, 1003 Lausanne, Switzerland
Website: www.mudac.ch
The Lure of the Image at Fotomuseum Winterthur
Photography has always lived in a delicate balance between the fleeting and the permanent. The Lure of the Image captures this tension with elegance, showing how the medium continues to seduce both eye and mind. On view until mid-October, the exhibition traces the way images draw us in, not only through their aesthetic pull but also through their ability to shape memory, history and desire.
The curators approach the subject with breadth. The works come from different generations and geographies, from experimental analogue photography to digital manipulations that border on the cinematic. Rather than presenting a chronological history, the show unfolds as a constellation of encounters. Each image seems to whisper a story of its own, yet together they reveal how visual culture weaves itself into our lives. It is a study of attraction, of how we surrender to images and let them define the way we perceive the world.
What makes this exhibition stand out is its awareness of the present moment. We live in an era of relentless visual saturation, where pictures multiply by the millions every day. Against this backdrop, The Lure of the Image slows us down. It asks us to linger, to rediscover the power of looking. For anyone who has ever wondered why some images haunt us long after the encounter, this is an essential visit.
Museum: Fotomuseum Winterthur, Grüzenstrasse 44 + 45, 8400 Winterthur, Switzerland
Website: www.fotomuseum.ch
La Pologne rêvée at Fondation de l’Hermitage Lausanne
There is something profoundly moving about seeing a nation through the eyes of its most significant artists. La Pologne rêvée at Fondation de l’Hermitage offers exactly that experience, bringing one hundred masterpieces from the National Museum in Warsaw to the heart of Lausanne. The exhibition, open until early November, is a rare chance to explore Polish art across centuries and to discover how cultural identity is formed in dialogue with history.
The journey begins with dramatic historical paintings that recall battles, revolutions and the long struggle for independence. These are followed by intimate portraits, landscapes and still lifes that show a quieter, more personal side of Polish creativity. Symbolism and modernism appear too, with striking works that remind us of Poland’s place within the European avant-garde. This is not just an exhibition of artworks but a portrait of a people, their resilience, their melancholy and their poetry.
Why is it important to see this show in Switzerland? Because it reveals connections often overlooked. Polish artists have been in dialogue with Western Europe for centuries, yet their voices are still less familiar to many audiences. Lausanne provides the perfect stage for this dialogue, allowing visitors to engage with a cultural heritage that is both specific and universal.
For art lovers seeking depth and discovery, La Pologne rêvée is an unmissable opportunity. It reminds us that painting can hold entire nations within its frame, and that beauty often carries the weight of history.
Museum: Fondation de l’Hermitage, Route du Signal 2, 1018 Lausanne, Switzerland
Website: www.fondation-hermitage.ch
Casanova à Genève at the Musée d’art et d’histoire Geneva
Few figures embody the spirit of the eighteenth century like Giacomo Casanova. Known across Europe as a seducer, traveller and storyteller, Casanova was also a keen observer of society and politics. The exhibition Casanova à Genève, running until early February, reveals an unexpected chapter of his life and places it within the broader context of Enlightenment Europe.
The curators invite us to step into a world of salons, libraries and encounters that shaped the intellectual climate of the time. Manuscripts, paintings, engravings and rare objects illustrate the breadth of Casanova’s connections and the vibrant cultural scene he inhabited. Visitors discover not only his adventures but also his role as a chronicler of his century, capturing with wit and detail the manners of a world in transformation.
What makes this exhibition particularly compelling is its local angle. Geneva was not simply a stopover for Casanova; it was a stage on which he interacted with thinkers, writers and politicians. By situating his story here, the museum highlights the city’s importance as a hub of ideas and as a witness to Europe’s changing tides.
For anyone interested in history, literature, or the art of self-invention, Casanova à Genève offers a fascinating immersion. It shows how personal myth can merge with collective memory, and how an individual life can mirror an age.
Museum: Musée d’art et d’histoire, Rue Charles Galland 2, 1206 Geneva, Switzerland
Website: www.mah-geneve.ch
Vallotton Forever at MCBA Lausanne
The painter Félix Vallotton is one of Switzerland’s most enigmatic artistic voices. Born in Lausanne in 1865, he went on to become a central figure of the Parisian avant-garde, part of the group known as the Nabis. His sharp lines, satirical eye and psychological depth made him both admired and feared in equal measure. The retrospective Vallotton Forever, opening in late October at MCBA, is the most comprehensive survey of his work in recent years and an event of genuine national significance.
The exhibition brings together paintings, drawings and woodcuts that span his entire career. Visitors encounter early portraits that already reveal his precise observation, landscapes that oscillate between serenity and unease, and later works where intimacy turns into theatrical drama. Vallotton’s celebrated woodcuts are also given pride of place, reminding us how he revolutionised printmaking with a graphic style that remains strikingly modern.
Why is Vallotton important today? His art speaks to the complexity of human relationships and the contradictions of modern life. He painted bourgeois interiors with an almost cinematic suspense, yet he also tackled political subjects with sharp irony. His work refuses to flatter, forcing us to see both beauty and discomfort in a single frame.
For Swiss audiences, this retrospective is more than an exhibition; it is a homecoming. For international visitors, it is a chance to rediscover an artist who deserves to stand alongside the great innovators of his time. Vallotton Forever promises to renew our understanding of a painter whose vision remains startlingly fresh.
Museum: Musée cantonal des Beaux Arts (MCBA), Place de la Gare 16, 1003 Lausanne, Switzerland
Website: www.mcba.ch
Gloria Oyarzabal × Lehnert and Landrock at Photo Elysée Lausanne
Photography has the power not only to document but also to question, to confront the hidden structures behind the images we consume. Gloria Oyarzabal × Lehnert and Landrock. Revisiting a Colonial Archive, opening at the end of October at Photo Elysée in Lausanne, is one of those exhibitions that reshape the way we think about visual history.
At its heart lies the archive of Lehnert and Landrock, two photographers who worked in North Africa during the early twentieth century. Their images are at once technically refined and ideologically charged, steeped in the colonial gaze of their time. By juxtaposing this archive with the work of contemporary Spanish artist Gloria Oyarzabal, the exhibition becomes a space of critical dialogue. Oyarzabal engages with the material not to dismiss it, but to reveal its power, its seductions, and its lingering impact on how cultures are represented.
The result is a show that is both unsettling and illuminating. It invites us to reflect on how images can become instruments of power, shaping our perceptions of the Other. At the same time, it demonstrates how artists today can use appropriation and re-interpretation as tools for resistance and re-imagination.
What makes this exhibition vital is its timeliness. As debates on colonial legacies intensify across Europe, Photo Elysée offers a platform where art, history and politics converge. It is not only for specialists but for anyone willing to question the images that have long been taken for granted.
Museum: Photo Elysée, Place de la Gare 17, 1003 Lausanne, Switzerland
Website: www.elysee.ch
Yayoi Kusama at Fondation Beyeler Basel
Few artists capture the imagination of global audiences quite like Yayoi Kusama. Her polka dots, pumpkins and mirrored rooms have become icons of contemporary art, symbols of both playfulness and deep psychological resonance. This autumn, the Fondation Beyeler in Basel dedicates a major retrospective to Kusama, opening in mid-October and running into the new year. It is one of the most anticipated Art exhibitions in Switzerland this season.
The exhibition traces Kusama’s journey from her early works on paper in post-war Japan to the immersive installations that made her an international star. Visitors will encounter paintings pulsating with colour, sculptures that merge organic and surreal forms, and the Infinity Mirror Rooms that invite viewers into endless reflections. It is a celebration of an artist who has spent her life transforming personal obsession into universal imagery.
What makes this retrospective essential is not just Kusama’s fame but her relevance. She speaks to themes of repetition, accumulation and self-obliteration that resonate in an age of both anxiety and wonder. Her art oscillates between joy and vertigo, reminding us that beauty often arises from fragility.
For Swiss audiences, this is a rare chance to see Kusama’s work in such depth. For international visitors, it reinforces Basel’s role as one of Europe’s great cultural capitals. The Fondation Beyeler, with its luminous architecture and surrounding park, provides the perfect setting for Kusama’s dreamlike world.
Museum: Fondation Beyeler, Baselstrasse 101, 4125 Riehen/Basel, Switzerland
Website: www.fondationbeyeler.ch
Lygia Clark at Kunsthaus Zürich
Some exhibitions feel like revelations, others like long-overdue recognitions. The retrospective devoted to Lygia Clark at Kunsthaus Zürich, opening in mid-November, belongs to both categories. Clark, one of the most influential Brazilian artists of the twentieth century, was a pioneer of abstraction, participation and sensorial exploration. Her work expanded the very definition of art, shifting it from object to experience.
The exhibition follows her trajectory from the geometric paintings of the 1950s to the radical participatory works of the 1960s and 1970s. Visitors will encounter her famous Bichos sculptures, hinged metal constructions designed to be manipulated by the audience, and her later therapeutic experiments that blurred the line between art and healing. In each phase, Clark challenged the distance between artwork and viewer, insisting that art must be lived rather than observed.
Why is this important in Switzerland today? Because Clark’s vision resonates strongly with contemporary questions of community, embodiment and interaction. In an era when digital screens mediate much of our experience, her insistence on touch, play and collective participation feels newly urgent.
For audiences unfamiliar with her, this retrospective offers a powerful introduction. For those who already know her legacy, it is an opportunity to see her work anew, framed within the architectural clarity of Zurich’s Kunsthaus. It promises not just an encounter with an artist, but with an idea of art as transformation.
Museum: Kunsthaus Zürich, Heimplatz 1, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland
Website: www.kunsthaus.ch
To Conclude,
Autumn in Switzerland is never just a season of falling leaves and crisp air. It is a season of encounters, of rooms filled with light and questions, of journeys through time and across cultures. The eight Art exhibitions highlighted here capture that sense of abundance. From the cosmic reach of Soleil.s in Lausanne to the intimate pull of photography in Winterthur, from the rediscovery of Vallotton at MCBA to the poetic dialogues at Photo Elysée, each show opens a door to a different world.
The variety is striking. In Basel, Kusama offers infinite reflections, while in Zurich, Lygia Clark asks us to touch and to participate. Geneva reveals the intellectual wit of Casanova, while Lausanne’s Hermitage reminds us of the beauty and struggle contained in Polish art. These are not isolated events but part of a cultural fabric that makes Switzerland unique. Few countries of its size can claim such density of museums, such range of voices, or such ambition in curatorial vision.
For art lovers and curious travellers alike, this autumn is a chance to walk through Switzerland with eyes wide open. Follow the trail of these exhibitions, let them surprise and provoke you, and you may discover that the journey between them becomes its own work of art. In a season of light and shadow, Switzerland proves once again that culture is its brightest sun.
José Amorim
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