max bill (1908–1994): the grammar of beauty

The exhibition is part of the m.a.x. museum’s cyclical series dedicated to the “masters of the 20th century” and is linked to the theme of the year at the Chiasso Cultural Centre, pulchritudo, a concept interpreted by Max Bill through his incessant research as the ultimate expression of harmony, synthesis, unity, space and logic. An architect, although better known as a painter, sculptor, designer and graphic artist, Max Bill enrolled at the Bauhaus, where he attended three semesters in 1927-1928, and from this experience he drew the founding principles for expressing a rational, objective and non-figurative art, contributing to the creation of the innovative cultural phenomenon of Concrete Kunst  thanks to a dense network of personal relationships along the Zurich-Milan axis. Artistic activity, theoretical thought and teaching are aspects of a single method adopted by Max Bill and based on an innovative and integrated vision of the concept of the “universal artist”. The exhibition at the m.a.x. museo therefore emphasises the centrality of this figure in relation to the phenomenon of the internationalisation of European culture, with particular reference, as mentioned, to the relations between Zurich and Milan in the interwar period. During those years, Switzerland was in fact a cultural crossroads for many intellectuals from Europe, especially Italy (think of E.N. Rogers, L. Baldessari, V. Magistretti).

During the post-war reconstruction, Max Bill actively participated in the social, cultural and political debate of the time. Of crucial importance was the 1947 exhibition of abstract and concrete art at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, conceived together with Lanfranco Bombelli Tiravanti, an event that became the spark that triggered the updating of visual languages in the field of arts and design in the Lombard capital and in Switzerland.

The exhibition features around a hundred of his paintings, sculptures, graphic works and designs, arranged according to a thematic-chronological criterion, with the strong relationship that Max Bill had with Italy, in particular with Gillo Dorfles and gallery owner Bruno Lorenzelli, from whom many of the works on display originate, some of which are unpublished, as the common thread. The loan from the collection of his son Jakob Bill is fundamental. Equally significant are the loans from important Swiss museums.

Exhibition curated by Karin Gimmi and Nicoletta Ossanna Cavadini.

Exhibition period: 29 March-12 July 2026
Opening hours:
Tuesday-Friday and public holidays: 10 a.m.-12 p.m.; 2 p.m.-6 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday: 10.30 a.m.-6 p.m.
Closed on Mondays