Photo: Credits to Mourad Ben Abdallah / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

musée Barbier-Mueller

Private Geneva museum of non-European and ancient art in a 16th-century house near the cathedral, open every day.

Opening hoursAdmission CHF 8 Partially accessible

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musée Barbier-MuellerOpening hoursAdmission CHF 8

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About the museum

The museum goes back to the collection of Josef Mueller (1887–1977) from Solothurn, who began acquiring art in 1907: first modern painting by Hodler, Cézanne, Matisse or Picasso, later, in close contact with the artists of his time, also sculptures and masks from Africa. His son-in-law Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller expanded the collection together with his wife Monique, Mueller’s daughter, focusing his interest especially on Oceania and Insular Southeast Asia.

In May 1977, three months after Josef Mueller’s death, the couple opened a museum in Geneva to display the collection permanently and to make the art of non-European cultures better known. The museum’s circle of friends now has almost a thousand members. Later, branches were established in Barcelona (pre-Columbian art, until 2013) and in Cape Town (African gold jewellery, open for ten years).

The museum is in the old town, only a few steps from St. Peter’s Cathedral, on the ground floor and basement of a historic 16th-century building, with an inner courtyard for fine days. The collection is considered the most important privately owned collection of art from Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Americas in the world and comprises several thousand pieces. Each year the museum presents two thematic exhibitions in which pieces from the collection enter into dialogue with works by invited artists; in four rooms in the basement, pieces of the same geographical or cultural origin are on display for longer periods.

Highlights

Important private collection of non-European and ancient art
Masks and sculptures from Africa and Oceania, including a Kwele mask from Gabon once owned by Tristan Tzara
Two thematic exhibitions a year in dialogue with contemporary artists
Historic 16th-century house with inner courtyard
Open 365 days a year

Founded: 1977
Director: Séverine Fromaigeat

Admission & discounts

Adults	CHF 8
Reduced	CHF 5AHV (old-age pension) recipients, students, young people aged 12 to 17, jobseekers, holders of the Passeport Musées de Genève
Children & teens	CHF 5free up to age 11 · Children under 12 free, as are schools and leisure centres; young people aged 12 to 17 pay the reduced price.
Seniors	CHF 5AHV recipients.
Visitors with disabilities	freeFree admission for people with disabilities (IV).
Students & apprentices	CHF 5
Groups (11+ people)	CHF 5 per personGroups of more than 10 people pay the reduced price per person. Guided tour on request: CHF 150 plus CHF 5 per person.

Free admission with, among others, the Swiss Museum Pass, Swiss Travel Pass, Geneva Pass, ICOM/AMS card, Raiffeisen card (depending on its terms), AIAP/IAA card and for members of the circle of friends (with up to 8 guests). Partner offers: with the “Autre Assiette Genevoise” card one admission free when purchasing one admission, with “La Clé” two admissions free when purchasing two.