The Swiss Hubert Looser Collection is one of Europe's most outstanding private collections of modern and contemporary art. It focuses on surrealism, abstract expressionism, minimal art, and arte povera. The exhibition at the Kunsthalle Krems, which will subsequently move to the Kunsthaus Zürich, features over 150 works that illustrate the exciting interplay between sculptures and works on paper.

A significant part of the collection consists of works on paper, supplemented by paintings and sculptures. These include works by Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Agnes Martin, Roni Horn, and Richard Serra. Swiss artists, who formed the basis of Hubert Looser's collection, are also represented.

For Hubert Looser, the line is a central aesthetic element that reflects art in its purest form. The drawings reveal the artists' “concetto,” the first graphic expression of their ideas, which often develop further into sculptures or large-format paintings. Some drawings stand alone, such as the purist lines of Henri Matisse and Andy Warhol or the abstract works of Cy Twombly and Brice Marden.

The early acquisitions from the 1960s and 1970s focus on works on paper. These surrealist and informal drawings are juxtaposed with works by international greats such as Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning. Particularly exciting is the comparison of an ink drawing by Gorky from the 1930s with works by Serge Brignoni or Lenz Klotz's dynamic lines with Twombly's scribbled marks.

French artist Fabienne Verdier has created a new work especially for the Kunsthalle Krems, adding another dimension to the exhibition. This fresh perspective on the works in the collection provides new insights and a deeper understanding of the lesser-known aspects of art.

Curator: Florian Steininger