Paul Klee Center

"When you are lucky, the result looks natural - something that nature could have created, but did not."


Recently, a lofty discussion has taken place in the press about whether Renzo Piano should be considered an American architect. By the number of prestigious commissions on this continent, he easily surpasses not only European architects. Although each new Piano project is somewhat of a surprise, there exists a lasting standard of quality in his buildings that clients can always rely on.
The initial idea for the construction of the ZPK was the donation from Livia Klee-Meyer in 1997 and the dedication of the land with funds for the museum from Maurice E. Müller and his wife Martha Müller-Lüthi. The institution itself has been accompanied by various inconveniences and legal complications, over which one would stop pondering when looking at the graceful curves of the museum. The strong gesture in the form of three waves does not come at the expense of the quality of operations inside. In terms of the quality of lighting in the exhibition spaces, Renzo Piano has no competitors. While in the Beyeler Gallery, the light comfort is ensured by a more than two-meter ceiling structure, six years later in the Texas Nasher Sculpture Center, he only needed a thin membrane. The three monumental waves are a natural response to the surrounding terrain. From the photograph of the wooden model, it is most evident how the new building gently wraps around the existing historic house and integrates into the landscape. The program for the desired extension was so large that any conventional house would give the impression of a factory or warehouse. As the sketches and working models demonstrate, the greatest source of inspiration for Piano in designing were the gentle hills and the shades of colors in the surrounding fields of Paul Klee's homeland.
The address where the current museum is located is named after one of Klee’s paintings from 1929 titled “Monument im Fruchtland.” That it is indeed a monumental work is evident at first glance. To ensure that the building also lives up to its second name “fertile landscape,” a bio-farmer takes care of the area around the museum (and partially on it) by growing barley. That it is more than just a museum is evidenced by the list of accompanying functions of the center: auditorium, seminar room, visitor's studio, a library with an archive, restaurant, and exhibition rooms for temporary exhibits by other (“competing”) artists.