Art’n’Rail Art Museum Basel

You can benefit from the discount with any ticket, such as a standard public transport ticket, a day pass, a saver ticket, a regional travelcard, a half-fare card, or a GA travelcard.

RailAway hit: 01.11.–30.11.2025

• 50% discount on admission to the entire museum

RailAway offer: 01.12.2025–30.04.2026

• 10% discount on admission to the entire museum

RailAway hit: 01.05.–31.05.2026

• 10% discount on admission to the entire museum 
• Discounts of up to 50% on the journey to Basel, Kunstmuseum and back* 

RailAway offer: 01.06.–30.06.2026

• 10% discount on admission to the entire museum

RailAway hit: 01.07.–31.07.2026

• 30% discount on admission to the entire museum

RailAway offer: 01.08.–30.09.2026

• 10% discount on admission to the entire museum

RailAway hit: 01.10.–31.10.2026

• 10% discount on admission to the entire museum
• Discounts of up to 50% on the journey to Basel, Kunstmuseum and back*

RailAway offer: 01.11.–30.11.2026

• 10% discount on admission to the entire museum

RailAway hit: 01.12.–31.12.2026

• 50% discount on admission to the entire museum

RailAway offer: 01.01.–31.01.2027

• 10% discount on admission to the entire museum

*Please note: The number of discounted tickets for public transport is limited each month. Once the 50% discount has been used up, the discount is reduced to 30%. Once the tickets with 30% have been used up, the price reduction is cancelled. The discounted public transport tickets are only available when booking online.

Free admission to the collection

You can visit the collection free of charge at the following times (except public holidays):
Tue, Thu, Fri: 17.00–18.00 hours
Wed: 17.00–20.00 hours
First Sunday of the month

Discounted admission to the special exhibition

You can visit the special exhibition for CHF 16.00 instead of CHF 30.00 at the following times:
Wed: 17.00–20.00 hours
First Sunday of the month

Ghosts: On the Trail of the Supernatural

20.09.2025–08.03.2026

The Art Museum Basel's special exhibition is dedicated to the visual culture of ghosts from Romanticism to the present day. Over 160 works and objects show how strongly art, literature, film, and popular media have been influenced by the supernatural.

The focus is on the 19th century, when scientific progress, spiritualism, and new illusion techniques such as Pepper's Ghost sparked widespread fascination with ghosts. The exhibition highlights how artists make the invisible visible and why belief in ghosts persists worldwide despite modern technology.

An exciting look at the interplay of imagination, culture, and supernatural phenomena.

Helen Frankenthaler

18.04.–23.08.2026

In spring 2026, the Art Museum Basel will present the largest European exhibition of works by American artist Helen Frankenthaler, who is considered a key figure in abstract painting after 1945. Around 40 paintings and 15 works on paper show her development over a period of more than five decades.

With her innovative soak-stain technique, in which she applied diluted paint to unprimed canvas lying on the floor, Frankenthaler revolutionized painting at the age of 23. Her works are characterized by bright fields of color and a precise sense of balance. Her work shaped color field painting and influenced generations of artists. The exhibition also highlights Frankenthaler's intensive engagement with Western art history from the Renaissance and Baroque to Modernism and shows works that reveal her central sources of inspiration.

Cao Fei – Testimonies to the Near Future

30.05.–11.10.2026

Chinese artist Cao Fei is one of the most influential voices in contemporary art. For her first solo exhibition in Switzerland, she transforms the Art Museum Basel into an immersive urban landscape in which installations and video worlds from twenty years of her work merge into a total experience.

As a pioneer of digital art, Cao Fei has been exploring the effects of technological and social upheavals on identity, work, and memory since the 2000s. Her videos, virtual spaces, and game-based environments move between documentation, fiction, and speculative futures.

Van Gogh, Hodler, and a Convertible – The Collector Gertrud Dübi-Müller

19.09.2026–07.02.2027 

This exhibition is the first comprehensive retrospective dedicated to Swiss collector, photographer, and pioneer Gertrud Dübi-Müller (1888–1980). Around 80 works by international artists – including van Gogh, Cézanne, Klimt, Amiet, Giacometti, and Hodler – demonstrate the quality of her collection and her extensive network.

Dübi-Müller was an exceptionally independent personality: an art lover, mountaineer, driver, and model for Ferdinand Hodler. With her camera, she documented her friendships with artists, her travels, and her passion for the mountains. The exhibition combines works of art, photographs, letters, and documents to create a multifaceted portrait of an inspiring woman who had a lasting impact on Swiss art history.

Verso – Stories from the Back

 01.02.2025–08.02.2026

The exhibition “Verso” in the new building reveals for the first time the hidden backs of paintings from the 14th to 18th centuries. These are views that are otherwise only accessible to curators and restorers. Winged altars, coats of arms, reused image carriers, and double-sided advertising signs – by Ambrosius and Hans Holbein the Younger, for example – reveal the paths that works of art took before their time in the museum.

The First Homosexuals – The Emergence of New Identities 1869–1939

07.03. – 02.08.2026

The exhibition uses around 100 works to show how new ideas about sexuality, gender, and identity emerged between 1869 and 1939. Paintings, photographs, sculptures, and works on paper shed light on early queer networks, intimate portraits, coded imagery, and the emergence of homosexual and trans identities.

The show, taken over from Wrightwood 659 (Chicago) and adapted for Basel, shows how artists of the time reflected on the term “homosexual” and the changing understanding of gender roles – from discreet codes to open representations. The exhibition broadens the view to include global perspectives, colonial interconnections, and artistic counter-voices.

Roy Lichtenstein – Sweet Dreams, Baby!

22.08.2026–03.01.2027 

The exhibition in the new building of the Art Museum Basel presents prints from all creative phases of the American Pop Art artist Roy Lichtenstein. It is based on a significant donation from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, which is being shown publicly for the first time and is one of the most important Lichtenstein collections outside the United States.

The approximately 35 works offer a concentrated overview of five decades: from famous comic motifs and explosions to art-historical reinterpretations. Serigraphs, etchings, lithographs, and woodcuts and linocuts demonstrate Lichtenstein's experimental working methods and his formative role in the visual language of pop culture.

Open Relationship – Contemporary Collection

14.11.2026–21.03.2027

Artists from Basel, Berlin, Cape Town, Mexico City, and New Delhi address social, ecological, and personal realities of life, question social narratives, and examine the relationship between the individual and the community. Other focal points include body perception, visual culture, and the construction of realities.

The exhibition invites visitors to take a critical look at the collection – its stories, gaps, and future potential.

Old Masters (15th–18th century)

The exhibition showcases key works of European painting from the 15th to the 18th century. The focus is on the unique holdings of Konrad Witz and Hans Holbein the Younger, including the “Dead Christ” and other key works from their Basel period.

The collection is complemented by South German, Swiss, and Old Dutch paintings, early landscapes, and works by Hans Bock the Elder and Tobias Stimmer. The 17th century is represented by still lifes and highlights of the Dutch Golden Age – from the Rembrandt school to genre scenes, church interiors, and seascapes.

The exhibition continues directly into 19th-century art with French Baroque and Rococo art.

19th century

The first floor displays the most important Swiss art of the 19th century, starting with Füssli and Wolf, through Böcklin and Anker, to Hodler with key major works.

The transition to French modernism leads via Corot and Courbet directly to Impressionism, represented by Pissarro, Cézanne, Renoir, and Monet. The highlight is masterpieces by van Gogh, Gauguin, and Degas.

Art from 1950 onwards

Eight rooms, arranged according to theme, provide an overview of the key movements of the second half of the 20th century – from minimal art and conceptual approaches to significant new acquisitions. Iconic positions meet rarely exhibited works, offering a concise insight into the diversity of art after 1950.

Classical Modernism

On the second floor of the Kunstmuseum Basel, the collection presents key works of classical modernism, including iconic paintings such as Oskar Kokoschka's Windsbraut and Franz Marc's Tierschicksale. The tour leads from Fauvism and Cubism to Expressionism and Surrealism to Constructivist art.

One focus is dedicated to the life's work of Alberto Giacometti in the Steinsaal. Since 2020, important new additions have enriched the presentation: color-intensive French painting from the early 20th century, supplemented by works by Derain and Vlaminck, as well as two rooms dedicated to Paul Klee and Pablo Picasso from a significant donation. Also new are two works by Gabriele Münter and one by Verena Loewensberg, which rounds off the Constructivist Hall.

The bistro team welcomes you with coffee, croissants, lunch, or cake. The modern, simple ambience lends every visit an elegant atmosphere. The long dining room, cozy lounge, and outdoor area facing the inner courtyard offer a variety of places to relax. The menu includes small and larger dishes—ideal for any time of day and any taste.