The Fondation Beyeler Wakes from its Slumber, says Sam Keller

“We are happy to know that, on May 11, our museum will wake from its ‘Sleeping Beauty’ slumber and its artworks will be ‘kissed’ back to life by visitors,” said Sam Keller, Director of the Fondation Beyeler in a statement. “We missed them. The ‘evil spell’ of coronavirus is not over yet, but the reopening of museums and parks is good news. Experiencing art and nature contributes in essential and proven ways to our mental and physical wellbeing and to life quality.”

Hopper, part of the American Realism movement, is known for his paintings like Gas, Cape Cod Morning, and Portrait of Orleans, all included in the exhibition. The New York-based artist was famous for depicting his view of the modern American life through oil paintings, whether that be his urban life scenes or his landscapes.

The show had already brought in over 100,000 people in the seven weeks prior to the closure of the Fondation earlier this spring and includes 65 pieces dating from 1909 to 1965. Today, amid the pandemic, the show reads in a new light: deserted cities and landscapes, physical and social distancing, isolation, loneliness, tense waiting and hoping, the enigmatic eeriness of our familiar surroundings, and an invisible threat.

The show also includes a short 3D film, Two or Three Things I Know about Edward Hopper, by filmmaker Wim Wenders as a personal tribute to the artist.