In 1935, the newly opened Kunstmuseum Luzern hosted the groundbreaking exhibition These, Antithese, Synthese, featuring modernist works by artists like Braque, Calder, Giacometti, Kandinsky, Miró, Taeuber-Arp, and Picasso,—at a time when such art was condemned as "degenerate" in National Socialist Germany. This show remains legendary and seemed impossible to replicate.
In 2025, the Kunstmuseum Luzern revisits that historic moment with Kandinsky, Picasso, Miró et al. back in Lucerne, presenting original pieces from the 1935 exhibition or comparable alternatives. After five years of research, many works—now in prestigious collections or sometimes lost—were traced, despite scarce archival materials.
But the current exhibition also critically reflects on its predecessor's exclusions, especially of women artists. By spotlighting Sophie Taeuber-Arp and including Barbara Hepworth, previously rejected in 1935, it addresses past omissions and reclaims overlooked voices. Set against the cultural and political unrest of the interwar period, the exhibition both honors and reexamines modernism's legacy, offering a visually and intellectually rich experience.
