When everything is closed, just buy a stinkey flower

One thing positive came out of the lockdown this spring: plenty of time while the museum was closed to consider the purchase of a work by Christine Streuli. The major solo exhibition Long Arms, Short Legs by Christine Streuli was on view at the Kunstmuseum Thun for just two weeks before the museum had to close its doors. But the Friends’ Society was then able to doubly enjoy what was denied to visitors: spending lots of time with Streuli’s works. There was no question of whether to buy something, but rather what to buy given such a fine selection?

As a rule, one of the first steps in making a selection is a joint visit to the artist’s studio. But travelling to Berlin was unfortunately not an option in recent months. So all contact with the artist had to digital. The internal meeting on the exhibition then took place in late May, and a consensus was quickly reached to acquire the work Stinkeblume_01 from 2008. This is a less recent work by the Berlin-based artist, but one that director Helen Hirsch counts among the most important examples of her working methods. These early works are powerful all-over canvases that evoke the artist’s impressions on her many travels and also tell of her everyday life. The influence of remembered ornaments and textiles is immediately evident. They serve as a store of ideas and a dictionary for Streuli’s painterly vocabulary. The Friends’ Society chose this work in appreciation of this special quality as well as the closeness of the subject to nature and the artist’s Swiss roots. The Kunstmuseum Thun is delighted that the Friends’ Society was able to make possible the purchase of this wonderful addition to the other Streuli works in the collection.

If you would like to find out more about the procedures, acquisition stra-tegies and meetings of the Friends’ Society, please feel free to contact us at any time. We would be happy to answer your questions, whether of an abstract or more concrete nature.