Information
The Musée d’art et d’histoire, founded in 1910, was formed through the merger of several cultural institutions in Geneva, some of whose collections date back as far as the sixteenth century. Interest in painting from the former Netherlands was particularly strong among Geneva collectors from the mid-eighteenth century onwards, influenced by the French example and motivated by a shared affinity for Protestantism. Some of these paintings are now part of the museum’s collection of Flemish and Dutch paintings, which comprises over 350 works dating from the late fifteenth to the eighteenth century and features a remarkable variety of themes. Similarly, the collection of engravings comprises over 3,000 Flemish and Dutch prints (and likely more, as the inventory is still underway), including fine sets featuring Mannerist engravers, Rembrandt or Van Ostade. The museum holds only around 30 drawings, including works by Jan van Goyen, Lambert Lombard, Jan I Brueghel and Abraham Bloemaert and also houses over 600 objects, mainly tapestries and lace, created in the former Netherlands.
Bénédicte De Donker, Curator of prints and drawings (May 2026)