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.
Explore the many faces of red in this playful workshop for young artists. Through games and gallery discoveries, children will spot how red shapes mood, power and stories in paintings and objects. They will experiment with shades, mix pigments and create small red artworks to express feelings and ideas. Activities are hands-on, sensory and designed to spark curiosity and imagination while learning about color and composition.
In French. Kids ages 6 and up.
Serval, a Geneva graffiti artist, and Kalonji, a Geneva illustrator, lead monthly artist encounters. Both bring practical experience in public art, illustration, and collaborative creation.
These sessions explore dialogue between artists and audiences and examine creative processes through live making in front of artworks. Participants observe techniques, discuss material choices and compositional decisions, and witness how collaborative exchange informs practice and interpretation within Geneva’s contemporary art context.
In French.
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 Johann Boillat presents a historical perspective on Geneva’s watchmaking and its transformations in the early twentieth century. He frames the discussion through a study of a work from the collection.
The session examines how crisis and regulatory responses reshaped Geneva’s watchmaking branch, investigating industrial reorganization, labour and production changes, and the role of regulatory frameworks in stabilizing the sector. It reveals how material culture and archival objects illuminate broader economic and social shifts.
In French.
Join a warm, safe, secular and non-therapeutic meeting open to everyone, where we share experiences, emotions and needs with respectful, compassionate listening. Facilitated by Fabienne Regad, a companion for bereaved people, together with a cultural mediator, we create space to speak, be heard and connect. This gathering welcomes all who wish to reflect on loss, exchange stories, and find supportive company in a caring community.
Filmmaker Elie Aufseesser, in residence at the museum, presents a preview screening that emerged from close study of the collection. His cinematic approach privileges observational frames, archival resonance and an attentiveness to material textures. The evening pairs the film with collaborator Boodaman, whose live musical responses foreground sound as a shaping force. The work reflects on memory, materiality and the dialogue between image and score, offering a quietly immersive, tactile cinematic experience.
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Culture, curated weekly.
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