Musée Barbier-Mueller - African, Oceanian, Asian and American Art in Geneva

Mika Vepsalainen
3 hours ago
2 min read

Come with us the a splendid museum of tribal and classical antiquity from all corners of the world at the Musée Barbier-Mueller in Geneva

Over a period of more than a hundred years, Josef Mueller and his son-in-law Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller have assembled the largest collection in private hands of traditional arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania, pre-Columbian America and various ancient civilizations. In 1977, Monique and Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller founded a museum in Geneva to share this collection with the public as they wanted to share their passion for the traditional arts.

Josef Mueller was born in Solothurn, in the German speaking Switzerland in 1887. In 1907, twenty years of age, he spent a whole year’s income on one painting by Ferdinand Hodler. Then he swiftly made his way to Paris where he started collecting paintings, Cézanne, Matisse, Renoir, Picasso, Braque…

In 1952, his daughter married Paul Barbier and together they started focusing on African, Oceanian and Southeast Asian art. The Barbier-Mueller Museum opened its doors in May with the mission to preserve, study, publish and exhibit a collection begun by Josef Mueller in 1907 and continued by his heirs up to our own time. Today, the collection is the world’s largest exhibition of its kind in private hands with several thousand pieces from tribal and classical antiquity, as well as sculptures, fabrics and ornaments from various cultures of Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Americas, many of these indispensable masterpieces with great historical value.

The museum holds two thematic exhibitions every year assembling a selection of objects from its own collection. The museum is also very active in publishing and you can buy their catalogues, art books, reviews and ethnographic studies online or at the museum shop in Geneva.

Located in two floors and a mezzanine without a lift, the museum is not really suited for handicapped visitors or if you come with a pram. There is a small coat rack next to the ticket desk and a visitors’ loo in the ground floor but it is not accessible in a wheelchair. In the ground floor, behind the exhibition rooms, there is a small inner garden where you can take a rest before heading for a glass of Chasselas in any of the nearby Genevan Old Town restaurants.

When you leave the museum, look at the building opposite and you will see a Calvin memorial on the wall. Geneva's Grand Man lived in a house there until his death in 1564. (The current building was built on its place in 1706, though.)