The Museum Langmatt in Baden is unique in the Swiss museum scene. This Art Nouveau villa belonging to the industrialist couple Sidney and Jenny Brown-Sulzer is home to a select art collection featuring French Impressionists. It was assembled in the early 20th century, with a great deal of personal passion. The villa’s unmistakable charm lies in its presentation of outstanding pictures from art history in historic living spaces, surrounded by an idyllic park.

Due to the ongoing overall renovation the museum and the park will remain closed until spring 2026.

Take a virtual 360° tour of some of the museum's historic rooms and the magnificent Langmatt Park before the renovation.

Unter dem Titel Schweizer Schätze ist die Sammlung Langmatt zu Gast im Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, wo sie auf Highlights der dortigen Sammlung trifft – ein Dialog, der faszinierende Begegnungen verspricht. Abgerundet wird die außergewöhnliche Präsentation der rund 150 Exponate durch historische Hängungen, die anhand von Archivaufnahmen aus dem Museum Langmatt rekonstruiert werden. Die Ausstellung Schweizer Schätze macht die vielen Facetten des französischen Impressionismus` sichtbar und unterstreicht die herausragende Qualität beider Kollektionen. 

Schweizer Schätze – Meisterwerke des Impressionismus aus dem Museum Langmatt

Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Köln
28.3.–27.7.2025

Die magische Langmatt – Eine ungewöhnliche Museumsgeschichte. So lautet der Titel der neuesten Publikation von Museumsdirektor Markus Stegmann. Das umfassende Buch dokumentiert die bewegte Geschichte der Langmatt von den Anfängen der Impressionismus-Sammlung über die Wandlung der Villa in ein Museum bis zur spektakulären Rettung durch den Bilderverkauf. Dabei stehen die grossen Themen der letzten Jahre im Zentrum: Neupositionierung, Volksabstimmung, Bilderverkauf, Vorbereitung der Gebäudesanierung. Langmattdirektor Markus Stegmann vermittelt interessante Einblicke in eine Zeit grosser Herausforderungen.   

Verschiedene Fachpersonen äussern sich zu historischen Hintergründen und zu den aktuellen Entwicklungen der letzten Jahre: Stefan Bräm, Lukas Breunig-Hollinger, Josef Bürge, Christine Egerszegi-Obrist, Patrick Nöthiger, Eva-Maria Preiswerk-Lösel, Bernhard Schmid, Markus Schneider und Rudolf Velhagen. In subtilen Texten fangen Kunstschaffende, die in den letzten 15 Jahren in der Langmatt ausgestellt haben, die zauberhafte Atmosphäre des historischen Ensembles ein: Vivian Greven, Eric Hattan, Renée Levi, Ursula Palla, Sandra Senn, Julia Steiner, Christian Vetter und Mark Wallinger.

Verlag Hatje Cantz, Berlin, dt./engl., 224 Seiten, 100 Abb., CHF 38, ermässigt CHF 25. Erhältlich in unserem Webshop oder bei Hatje Cantz.

Radio SRF1 – Regionaljournal AG/SO, 17.10.2024: Was macht die «Magie» der Langmatt aus?

The Museum Langmatt is publishing the results of a nearly three-year provenance research project, carried out from 2022 to 2024 in collaboration with Lange & Schmutz Provenance Research. The project analysed 13 mostly Impressionist paintings that Jenny and Sidney Brown acquired as late additions to their Impressionism collection between 1933 and 1940. The Federal Office of Culture supported the project from 2023 to 2024. The Langmatt Foundation reached a fair and equitable solution with the descendants of the former owners for two of the works on the basis of the Washington Guidelines. At the end of the project, there were no indications or evidence of Nazi-looted art for the remaining works, or such a connection could be ruled out.

Further information (in German only)

The Museum Langmatt and the park will remain closed until spring 2026 due to the overall renovation. Thanks to various events, you can experience the renovation-related changes to the Langmatt.

Day of the empty «old» Langmatt - Sunday, 25 February 2024, 14–18 hrs
After all the furniture and pictures, chandeliers and curtains, books and vases have been removed in January/February 2024, the completely emptied Langmatt offers the opportunity for a unique experience: how will the characteristic Langmatt atmosphere change everything has been removed? The day of the empty «old» Langmatt will be followed by a day of the empty «new» Langmatt at the beginning of 2026, so that the differences between before and after can be compared. Admission free.

Guided tours of the building site
What will happen behind the gates of Langmatt during the complete renovation? In 2024 and 2025, there will be various opportunities to visit the Langmatt as part of guided tours of the construction site. The exact dates depend on the progress of the renovation work. They will be published on our website at short notice and communicated via newsletter, Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin.

Workshops for school classes
The overall renovation offers ideal opportunities for school classes of all levels to discover a different Langmatt. Each construction phase offers specific and varied workshop content. Further information on the 2024 workshops in German and English and, at a later date, on the 2025 programmes can be found at langmatt.ch/schoolclasses.

Processual art projects
The artist Reto Boller, the artist duo Bigler/Weibel and the cartoonist Silvan Wegmann (SWEN) have been invited to Langmatt for long-term process-based art projects. Three different perspectives, generations and artistic media accompany and document the structural changes during the overall renovation. During this time, snapshots will be published on the museum's website and newsletter as well as on social media. The projects will culminate in three cabinet exhibitions to mark the reopening.

Display Window Langmatt
The Langmatt is a guest at the Historical Museum Baden until the end of 2024. The Display Window Langmatt shows selected historical views and objects from the history of the Brown family's collection. An 8-minute film portrait of the historical origins of the Langmatt can be seen in the museum cinema. In May and autumn, joint events round off the guest appearance.

Exhibition tour
During the closure period, the Impressionists will go on a European tour. This is the first time in its history that the collection will be presented outside of Baden. Three major museums will be showing around 50 of the most important Langmatt paintings:

Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne
28 June–3 November 2024

Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne
28 March–27 July 2025

Lower Belvedere, Vienna
25 September 2025–8 February 2026

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The aim of the overall renovation in 2024/25 is to preserve and protect the enchanting 120-year-old villa with one of the most important private collections of French Impressionism in Europe and the publicly accessible park. In addition to the structural refurbishment, the foundation has undertaken to secure future operating costs through the capital gains from the sale of three paintings. With the released capital of around CHF 40 million, the foundation can generate sufficient annual income to make the necessary contribution to operating costs in the future.

Further information (in German only)