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Kunstmuseum St.Gallen · since 1877

Fun facts.

16 things you may not know about the museum, its building and its collection. Found by the AI Archive Project in public sources.

  1. Engraving of the museum around its opening: a long neoclassical building with statues on the roof, a horse-drawn carriage in front.
    The museum after its opening. Foto: Stadtarchiv der Ortsbürgergemeinde St.Gallen

    01The building

    Born in 1877, in the Stadtpark

    The museum opened on 8 October 1877 in a building by Johann Christoph Kunkler. For almost 140 years it shared the house with the natural history museum, which moved out only in 2016.

    That move nearly doubled the space for art and led to the first permanent display of the collection in 2017.

    Source: kunstmuseumsg.ch/geschichte; SRF 2017

  2. The Kunstmuseum seen from the Stadtpark on a sunny day: a grey neoclassical building with exhibition banners and a garden in front.
    The Kunklerbau today. Foto: Stefan Rohner

    02History

    Busiest when it had no building

    From 1970 to 1987 the building was closed for renovation. Yet the museum was never busier: from 1978 to 1986 it staged about ten shows a year in other venues, three times as many as in the 1950s and 60s.

    1980 holds the record with 16 exhibitions.

    Source: Exhibition archive 1944–2026, kunstmuseumsg.ch/archiv

  3. A racing bicycle trailing long yellow ribbons across the tiled floor of a high hall with pink marble columns.
    Roman Signer, Fahrrad mit gelbem Band, 1982/1999. Gift of Konrad Bitterli and Romy Lipp, 2023

    03Collection

    Films of the empty museum

    In 1982, while the museum was closed, Roman Signer used the empty building as his studio and filmed his experiments there on Super-8.

    In 2025 the museum bought 16 of those films. It collected a piece of its own history.

    Source: Annual report 2025

  4. The museum staircase with an iron railing; a huge glitch-patterned textile in red, gold and blue hangs on a metal frame.
    Claudia Caviezel, Glitch, 2025. Foto: Stefan Rohner

    04Visitors

    The staircase beat the collection

    The most-visited work of 2025 hung in the staircase: Claudia Caviezel's textile "Glitch", with 23,450 visitors. That is more than the permanent collection display.

    It hangs on a metal frame first built for a ballet curtain by Jean Tinguely.

    Source: Annual reports 2024 and 2025

  5. Painting by Ferdinand Hodler: a woman in a long blue dress stands with arms spread wide in front of green hills and a meadow of blue flowers.
    Ferdinand Hodler, Lied aus der Ferne, 1906, acquired 1906. The 1977 jubilee exhibition carried the same title.

    05History

    Three birthdays

    When was the Kunstverein founded? In 1953 it celebrated 125 years, which points to 1828. In 1977 it celebrated 150 years, which points to 1827. German Wikipedia says 1823.

    The 2027 jubilee follows 1827.

    Source: Exhibition archive; Wikipedia (German)

  6. Andy Warhol's painting of a red and white Campbell's tomato soup can.
    Andy Warhol, Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup, 1962. Gift of Erna and Curt Burgauer, 1987. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / ProLitteris, Zurich

    06Collection

    A soup can, courted for years

    Warhol's soup can came as a gift from the collectors Erna and Curt Burgauer in 1987. The museum had courted them for years, with a show of their collection in 1986 titled "Gifts and a promised bequest".

    The same gift brought Paul Klee's "Tänzerpaar".

    Source: kunstmuseumsg.ch/highlights; exhibition archive

  7. Painting by Sophie Taeuber-Arp: a single curving yellow form rising from the lower edge of a white ground.
    Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Gelbe Form, 1935. Gift of Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach, 1966

    07Collection

    A founder of Dada

    Sophie Taeuber-Arp helped found the Dada movement in Zurich in 1916, together with Hans Arp. Her "Gelbe Form" came to St.Gallen in 1966 as a gift from Marguerite Arp-Hagenbach.

    Hans Arp is in the collection too, with a late bronze sculpture.

    Source: kunstmuseumsg.ch/highlights

  8. Painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: an Alpine village with houses and a chapel, cattle and goats climbing a green mountain path under jagged peaks, in strong colours.
    Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Alpaufzug, 1918/19. Acquired 1955

    08Collection

    Bought in 1955, never a solo show

    Kirchner's "Alpaufzug", a cattle drive up to the Alpine pastures, has been in the collection since 1955.

    Yet none of the collection's great pre-1945 names, from Kirchner and Klee to Monet and Hodler, had a solo exhibition here between 2003 and 2026.

    Source: kunstmuseumsg.ch/highlights; exhibition archive

  9. Painting by Camille Corot: a woman in Ottoman dress and headscarf reclines on cushions beside a water pipe, resting her head on her hand.
    Camille Corot, Odalisque, 1871/1873. Kunstmuseum Basel and Kunstmuseum St.Gallen

    09Collection

    One painting, two museums

    Corot's "Odalisque" belongs to two museums at once: Kunstmuseum Basel and Kunstmuseum St.Gallen own it together.

    It came as a family gift to both houses.

    Source: kunstmuseumsg.ch/highlights

  10. Installation by Pipilotti Rist: an oval chandelier hung with glass crystals and small television screens, between pink marble columns.
    Pipilotti Rist, T.V.-Lüster, 1993. Permanent loan from the Swiss Confederation, Federal Office of Culture

    10Collection

    A chandelier of televisions

    In 1993 Pipilotti Rist made a chandelier out of television sets.

    "T.V.-Lüster" plays six channels of video and is on permanent loan from the Swiss Confederation.

    Source: kunstmuseumsg.ch/highlights

  11. Industrial hall at the Lokremise with a heap of large blue and green wrapped textile bundles and a tall column of hanging pale cord.
    Sheila Hicks, a little bit of a lot of things, 2023, Lokremise. Foto: Stefan Altenburger

    11Programme

    Thirty years without textiles

    St.Gallen grew rich on embroidery, and the museum showed textiles regularly from 1959 to 1992. Then they almost vanished for thirty years.

    They came back with Sheila Hicks in 2023, Claudia Caviezel in 2025 and Marie Schumann in 2026.

    Source: Exhibition archive 1944–2026

  12. A young woman lies on a large painted canvas on the floor, holding up a long beaded object, in sunlight.
    Verena Merz in her studio, 1989. Foto: Hans Krensler

    12Artists

    Rediscovered every generation

    Some artists from the region get "rediscovered" again and again. Verena Merz had shows here in 1992, 2009 and 2026.

    Hannah Villiger was shown in 1995 and again in 2025.

    Source: Exhibition archive 1944–2026

  13. Two Russian icons side by side on a red background: one painted with many small figures, the other an ornate metal cover with cut-out openings.
    Heilige, Wunder und Visionen. Icons from the Gürtler gift, 2016. Foto: Sebastian Stadler

    13Collection

    Icons, shown once

    In 2013 the museum received a gift of icons from the Gürtler collection, some of them from 16th-century Russia.

    They have had one exhibition so far, in 2016.

    Source: Exhibition archive; kunstmuseumsg.ch

  14. An old master painting of many birds, among them a peacock, an eagle and a rooster, gathered in a landscape, in a dark carved frame.
    From the exhibition Altmeister-Geschichten. The gift of Maria and Johannes Krüppel-Stärk, 2019/2020. Foto: Stefan Rohner

    14Collection

    1,504 works in one gift

    In 2018 Maria and Johannes Krüppel-Stärk gave the museum 1,504 old master works in a single gift.

    Older estimates put the whole collection at about 3,000 works. Today the museum counts about 12,000.

    Source: Annual report 2024; kunstmuseumsg.ch

  15. Inside the bar El Gato Muerto: a long counter, shelves of bottles, walls covered with pictures and memorabilia, and a jukebox, in warm light.
    Barbara Signer and Michael Bodenmann, El Gato Muerto, 2020. Foto: Anna-Tina Eberhard

    15Collection

    The museum bought a bar

    In 2025 the collection gained a whole bar: "El Gato Muerto" by Barbara Signer and Michael Bodenmann, with its furniture, bottles, memorabilia and works by other artists.

    It opens in the museum on 7 November 2026.

    Source: Annual report 2025; kunstmuseumsg.ch

  16. Two 19th-century seascapes in gilt frames on a grey wall: a rocky shore by day, and a red sunset over the water with a boat.
    Sammlung. Schlaglichter & Schwergewichte, 2023. Foto: Stefan Altenburger

    16Programme

    Longer, not more

    In 1944–1969 a typical exhibition ran for 37 days. Since 2017 it runs for about 148, four times as long.

    The number of shows a year has stayed about the same. The museum shows longer, not more.

    Source: Exhibition archive 1944–2026

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All 16 facts
  1. Born in 1877, in the Stadtpark
  2. Busiest when it had no building
  3. Films of the empty museum
  4. The staircase beat the collection
  5. Three birthdays
  6. A soup can, courted for years
  7. A founder of Dada
  8. Bought in 1955, never a solo show
  9. One painting, two museums
  10. A chandelier of televisions
  11. Thirty years without textiles
  12. Rediscovered every generation
  13. Icons, shown once
  14. 1,504 works in one gift
  15. The museum bought a bar
  16. Longer, not more

Pictures from kunstmuseumsg.ch, credited as given there.