New Constellations

In a Holbein from around 1520, two skulls rest in a window niche, a plain statement that death comes for everyone. It sets the terms for this room. Lotti Krauss and Niklaus Stoecklin answer it with landscapes wrecked by the First World War, the ruined ground standing in for human suffering.

New Constellations is one room in the Neubau, drawn from the Kunstmuseum's collection and the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation, with works from the sixteenth century to today on war, violence and transience. A monumental installation stands at the centre, and the curators chose everything else around it. You'll find Goya in the same room as Bruce Nauman, Thomas Struth, Miriam Cahn and Kaari Upson.

The museum says the aim is to make discomfort and violence visible, not to resolve them. Entry is on the standard CHF 25 ticket, Wednesdays run to 8pm, and it closes on 6 December.