Nestled in the heart of Geneva’s Old Town, the Museum of Art and History ranks among Switzerland’s largest museums. Boasting a collection of around 650,000 objects spanning applied arts, fine arts, and archaeology across five floors, the museum embraces a dynamic and innovative approach to showcase its treasures through unexpected exhibitions. Annually, it hosts approximately ten temporary exhibitions, frequently inviting contemporary artists to contribute. The museum organizes a variety of surprising events, including yoga classes in the galleries and after-work parties.
Step into the artist’s playful world and explore dazzling installations together. Wander through a gallery of animals, shining lights and mirrored surfaces that bend colors and reflections. Children will observe, point out details, and share discoveries with an adult companion. The visit invites curiosity, listening to quiet echoes, noticing movements of light, and making stories from what they see. It sparks imagination and visual discovery.
Dates:
Sunday 26 April, 16:00
Sunday 10 May, 16:00
Sunday 20 September, 16:00
In French. Kids ages 6 and up.
Join Luna as she leads children on a gentle adventure through the museum. Curious and full of questions, this little Roman statuette takes them from one artwork to the next. Children follow her between the pages of her book and the galleries, uncovering tiny secrets through storytelling, close looking and playful prompts. The experience sparks imagination, invites discovery and encourages questions through colors, textures and movement.
In French. Kids ages 4 and up.
De l’Ombre aux Lumières surveys Genevan painting from 1444 to 1782, bringing together works by painters active in the city to trace shifts in style and purpose.
The exhibition focuses on painting as a medium—portraiture, devotional imagery and civic commissions—and on changing uses of light, composition and technique. It situates these works within Geneva’s evolving social and religious contexts, showing how local workshops and patrons shaped a distinct visual language that reveals broader cultural transformations.
In French.
Historian Gérard Duc presents research grounded in a specially released object from the museum collection, placing watchmakers’ training within the 19th-century shift towards mechanization.
This talk examines major mutations in Geneva’s watchmaking industry, exploring how schools and craftsmen adapted techniques, how pedagogical practices preserved artisanal savoir-faire, and what these transformations reveal about technology, labor and cultural continuity and their legacy for contemporary craft and heritage studies.
In French.
Jean-Étienne Liotard’s portraits of the imperial family, notably Marie‑Antoinette, include eleven drawings widely regarded as masterpieces. This project examines the identification of the sitter children and the works’ provenance through a cross-disciplinary investigation. In collaboration with the University of Oxford, the Idiap research institute and the School of Criminal Sciences at the University of Lausanne, historians of art and specialists in the eighteenth century join AI researchers and forensic experts to reveal new insights into authorship and history.
Presented as a convivial evening-format encounter, Oh! MAHself! brings together artworks and short proposals in a speed‑dating rhythm. The event foregrounds artistic experimentation and modes of encounter, prompting fresh perceptions through brief, concentrated interactions with works.
Varied formats and curatorial propositions are showcased, and the programme reflects cross-disciplinary exchange and collaborative practice. In partnership with the Fête du Théâtre, the evening reveals how fleeting encounters can amplify narratives, provoke questions, and reframe audience–art relations.
Culture, curated weekly.
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