Low Land, New Heights

In 2024, the Museum Reinhart am Stadtgarten will remain closed for several months due to renovations. All paintings will be taken down for the duration of the renovation. While some of the works are stored, the Kunst Museum Winterthur is taking the opportunity to send some of the Oskar Reinhart Foundation's masterpieces on an exhibition tour in order to generate visibility for the museum and ultimately for Swiss art on the international stage.

With Low Land, New Heights, the important collection of landscape paintings from the Dutch Baroque period will remain accessible to the public in a separate exhibition at the Kunst Museum Winterthur | Beim Stadthaus. In the 17th century, the Netherlands was considered a stronghold of landscape painting. The artists created a veritable topography of their homeland in the changing times, wind and weather. In doing so, they propagated a new awareness of their own country and national identity. Jan van Goyen's river and village views are just as representative of this as the picturesque dune and forest landscapes of his contemporary Pieter de Molijn. The Dutch were also proud of their cosmopolitanism, which culminated in the sea and marine pieces of Willem van de Velde. The longing for distant places, however, is embodied in the southern ideal landscapes of the Italianate artists. Finally, with Jacob van Ruisdael, landscape painting gained a spiritual dimension. His tree scenes and spectacular waterfalls, which the artist saw as a reflection of human feeling, mark the end of the tour, which makes the important ensemble of Dutch art accessible in a new environment and context.

Curator: Andrea Lutz