The Werner Coninx Collection
A Survey
Werner Coninx (1911–1980) collected around 15,000 art objects over the decades from 1937 until the end of his life. In 2016, his collection was sorted based on subject matter, and large numbers of works found their way as permanent loans into ten Swiss art institutions. The Aargauer Kunsthaus, which owns what is considered to be the most comprehensive public collection of Swiss art from the eighteenth century to the present, received 127 works of figurative Swiss painting (by François Barraud, Giovanni Giacometti, Ferdinand Hodler, Otto Morach and others) from the collection of Werner Coninx.
These oil paintings form the core of the exhibition “The Coninx Collection”. Other bodies of work to be displayed include French prints from 1850–1950, non-European sculptures and drawings and prints of German Expressionism. This wide variety makes it possible to trace the DNA of Werner Coninx’ passion for collecting and take a closer look at his vision of a universal collection as a mirror of the history of mankind and culture.
With loans from the Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur, Kunsthaus Zürich, Kunst Museum Winterthur, Rietberg Museum, Archaeological Collection of the University of Zürich and other institutions.
