The Daros Collection is a Swiss private collection of modern art owned by the

Stephan Schmidheiny Stephan Ernst Schmidheiny (born 29 October 1947) is a Swiss entrepreneur, philanthropist and advocate of sustainable development. In 2019, his net worth was estimated by Forbes to be $2.3 billion. He's also well known for being convicted over his ...

family. At its core are comprehensive groups of work by Andy Warhol, Brice Marden, Cy Twombly, Willem de Kooning and Gerhard Richter.

Collection

The groups of work in the Daros Collection document key movements and positions in the world of art. It comprises around 250 individual items, with the primary focus being on North American and European art from the second half of the 20th century. Besides important exponents of American Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimal Art and the New York art scene of the 1980s, it also features other precursors and pioneers of current contemporary art.

Artists currently represented in the collection

Jean-Michel Basquiat,

Louise Bourgeois Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (; 25 December 191131 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a varie ...

Mark Bradford Mark Bradford (born November 20, 1961) is an American visual artist. Born in Los Angeles, Bradford studied at the California Institute of the Arts. Recognized for his collaged painting works, which have been shown internationally, his practice al ...

Robert Gober Robert Gober (born September 12, 1954) is an American Sculpture, sculptor. His work is often related to domestic and familiar objects such as sinks, doors, and legs. Early life and education Gober was born in Wallingford, Connecticut and studi ...

, Philipp Guston,

Ellsworth Kelly Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art ...

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter ...

Brice Marden Brice Marden (born October 15, 1938) is an American artist generally described as Minimalist, although his work may be hard to categorize. He lives and works in New York City; Tivoli, New York; Hydra, Greece; and Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania. Life ...

Agnes Martin Agnes Bernice Martin (March 22, 1912 – December 16, 2004), was an American abstract painter. Her work has been defined as an "essay in discretion on inward-ness and silence". Although she is often considered or referred to as a minimalist, Mar ...

Bruce Nauman Bruce Nauman (born December 6, 1941) is an American artist. His practice spans a broad range of media including sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking, and performance. Nauman lives near Galisteo, New Mexico. Life and work ...

Barnett Newman Barnett Newman (January 29, 1905 – July 4, 1970) was an American artist. He has been critically regarded as one of the major figures of abstract expressionism, and one of the foremost color field painters. His paintings explore the sense of ...

Sigmar Polke Sigmar Polke (13 February 1941 – 10 June 2010) was a German painter and photographer. Polke experimented with a wide range of styles, subject matters and materials. In the 1970s, he concentrated on photography, returning to paint in the 1980s ...

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a ho ...

Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter (; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist. Richter has produced abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, and also photographs and glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary German ...

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...

Robert Ryman Robert Ryman (May 30, 1930February 8, 2019) was an American painter identified with the movements of monochrome painting, minimalism, and conceptual art. He was best known for abstract, white-on-white paintings. He lived and worked in New York ...

Thomas Schütte Thomas Schütte (born 16 November 1954) is a German contemporary artist. He sculpts, creates architectural designs, and draws. He lives and works in Düsseldorf. Education From 1973 to 1981 Schütte studied art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf ...

Richard Serra Richard Serra (born November 2, 1938) is an American artist known for his large-scale sculptures made for site-specific landscape, urban, and architectural settings. Serra's sculptures are notable for their material quality and exploration of ...

Cy Twombly Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. (; April 25, 1928July 5, 2011) was an American painter, sculptor and photographer. He belonged to the generation of Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Twombly is said to have influenced younger artists such as ...

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

Christopher Wool Christopher Wool (born 1955) is an American artist. Since the 1980s, Wool's art has incorporated issues surrounding post-conceptual ideas. He lives and works in New York City and Marfa, Texas, together with his wife and fellow painter Charline v ...

The history of the collection

The Daros Collection was established in 1997. Following his brother Alexander Schmidheiny’s death at a young age, Stephan Schmidheiny had inherited his wide-ranging collection of more than 1,000 individual items, which Alexander together with his childhood friend

Thomas Ammann Thomas E. Ammann (1950 – 9 June 1993) was a leading Swiss art dealer in Impressionist and twentieth century art, and a collector of post-war and contemporary art. Life Born 1950 in Ermatingen, Switzerland, as the youngest of four children (Eve ...

had assembled. In addition to outstanding works by Jackson Pollock and Barnett Newman, unique holdings of Andy Warhol and Cy Twombly formed the core of the collection. Stephan Schmidheiny decided to sharpen the collection’s profile and expand it further, entrusting its management to a professional set-up named Daros. Initially, Daros concentrated on collecting US art from the second half of the 20th century. At the turn of the millennium, the decision was taken to sell off numerous works – including examples by Francesco Clemente, David Reed,

Philip Taaffe Philip Taaffe (born 1955) is an American artist, who has shown his works all around the world. His work sometimes blended motifs from multiple cultures. Biography Taaffe was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth, New Jersey and studied at ...

and Ross Bleckner – and include new artistic positions. Works by artists such as Gerhard Richter, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman and Louise Bourgeois were acquired, with the key criterion being their significance in the development of contemporary art. Over the past decade, Daros has consistently focused the collection on important groups of work by major artists. Further key works by Abstract Expressionists such as Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning have been acquired, while the existing holdings of Gerhard Richter have been expanded into a significant corpus. Daros has also extended its reach to encompass larger groups by artists such as Christopher Wool and Thomas Schütte, while initial purchases have been made for new collections of important artists such as Philip Guston and Mark Bradford. Daros has also shown its commitment to leading museums in recent years. The Stephan Schmidheiny family / Daros supported the building of the new

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...

in London in 2000 and its extension in 2016, as well as the extension project of the

Fondation Beyeler The Beyeler Foundation or Fondation Beyeler with its museum in Riehen, near Basel (Switzerland), owns and oversees the art collection of Hildy and Ernst Beyeler, which features modern and traditional art. The Beyeler Foundation museum includes ...

in Riehen (Switzerland).

Ties to the Daros Latinamerica Collection

In the 1990s, Stephan Schmidheiny built up an industrial group in Latin America, and at the end of the decade Daros thus also turned its attention to contemporary Latin American art. The Daros Latinamerica Collection was established in 2000 separately from the Daros Collection to allow the two to develop independently of each other. Today it is one of the most comprehensive private collections of contemporary Latin American art.

Exhibitions

Cooperation with the Fondation Beyeler

Since 2010, the Daros Collection has been working closely with the

in Riehen near Basel, which has incorporated groups of work from Daros into its own collection displays. Daros is also supporting the Fondation Beyeler’s planned extension, making a generous donation to lay the cornerstone for this project. * 2021: Sigmar Polke - Nature Culture * 2019: Louise Bourgeois - Insomnia Drawings * 2017: Andy Warhol * 2016: Christopher Wool * 2015: Robert Ryman * 2014: Cy Twombly * 2013: Mark Rothko * 2013: Willem de Kooning * 2011: Barnett Newman * 2010/2011: Gerhard Richter

Selected loans

* 2021: Kunsthaus Zürich: Gerhard Richter. A comprehensive landscape exhibition * 2017/2018: Thomas Ammann Fine Art AG: Cy Twombly * 2015: Museum of Contemporary Art Basel: Cy Twombly * 2014/2015: Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz: Andy Warhol ‘Death and Disaster’ * 2011/2012: Tate Modern, London: Gerhard Richter: ‘Panorama’ * 2010: Kunstmuseum Basel: Andy Warhol – The Early Sixties * 2002: The Museum of Modern Art, New York: Gerhard Richter: 40 Years of Painting * 2000: Moderna Museet, Stockholm: In the Power of Painting: Warhol, Polke, Richter, Twombly

Selected Daros exhibitions (2001 - 2008)

Between 2001 and 2008 Daros staged its own exhibitions, displaying works in temporary presentations at the Daros Exhibitions galleries in Zurich’s Löwenbräu Areal. This space was also used by the Daros Latinamerica Collection. * 2004: Brice Marden: Drawings and Paintings * 2002: Cy Twombly: Audible Silence * 2000: In the Power of Painting: Warhol, Polke, Richter, Twombly

Bibliography

* Walter Soppelsa (ed.): ''Daros at Beyeler. Works from the Daros Collection at the Fondation Beyeler 2010 - 2017.'' Zurich 2017, * Walter Soppelsa (ed.): ''Selection from the Daros Collection''. Zurich 2012, * Daros Services AG and Daros Latinamerica AG (ed.): ''Face to Face: The Daros Collections''. Hatje Cantz, Berlin 2008, * Daros Services AG (ed.): ''Louise Bourgeois: Emotions Abstracted.'' Hatje Cantz, Berlin 2004, * Peter Fischer (ed.): ''Louise Bourgeois: The Insomnia Drawings''. Scalo, Zurich 2000, * Daros Services AG (ed.) ''Brice Marden: Drawings and Paintings 1964-2002.'' Scalo, Zurich 2002, * Daros Services AG (ed.) ''Audible Silence: Cy Twombly at Daros''. Scalo, Zurich 2002, * Daros Services AG (ed.) ''Nauman Kruger Jaar''. Scalo, Zurich 2001. * Alesco (ed.): ''Warhol Polke Richter: In the Power of Painting 1''. Scalo, Zurich 2001, * Peter Fischer (ed.): ''In the power of painting.'' Scalo, Zurich 2000, * Peter Fischer (ed.): ''Abstraction, gesture, ecriture: paintings from the Daros Collection.'' Scalo, Zurich 1999,

References

{{Authority control Private collections in Switzerland