The groups of work in the Daros Collection document key movements and positions in the world of art. It comprises around 250 individual items, with the primary focus being on North American and European art from the second half of the 20th century. Besides important exponents of American Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimal Art and the New York art scene of the 1980s, it also features other precursors and pioneers of current contemporary art.
The Daros Collection was established in 1997. Following his brother Alexander Schmidheiny’s death at a young age, Stephan Schmidheiny had inherited his wide-ranging collection of more than 1,000 individual items, which Alexander together with his childhood friend Thomas Ammann had assembled. In addition to outstanding works by Jackson Pollock and Barnett Newman, unique holdings of Andy Warhol and Cy Twombly formed the core of the collection. Stephan Schmidheiny decided to sharpen the collection’s profile and expand it further, entrusting its management to a professional set-up named Daros. Initially, Daros concentrated on collecting US art from the second half of the 20th century. At the turn of the millennium, the decision was taken to sell off numerous works – including examples by Francesco Clemente, David Reed, Philip Taaffe and Ross Bleckner – and include new artistic positions. Works by artists such as Gerhard Richter, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman and Louise Bourgeois were acquired, with the key criterion being their significance in the development of contemporary art. Over the past decade, Daros has consistently focused the collection on important groups of work by major artists. Further key works by Abstract Expressionists such as Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning have been acquired, while the existing holdings of Gerhard Richter have been expanded into a significant corpus. Daros has also extended its reach to encompass larger groups by artists such as Christopher Wool and Thomas Schütte, while initial purchases have been made for new collections of important artists such as Philip Guston and Mark Bradford. Daros has also shown its commitment to leading museums in recent years. The Stephan Schmidheiny family / Daros supported the building of the new Tate Modern in London in 2000 and its extension in 2016, as well as the extension project of the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen.
Ties to the Daros Latinamerica Collection
In the 1990s, Stephan Schmidheiny built up an industrial group in Latin America, and at the end of the decade Daros thus also turned its attention to contemporary Latin American art. The Daros Latinamerica Collection was established in 2000 separately from the Daros Collection to allow the two to develop independently of each other. Today it is one of the most comprehensive private collections of contemporary Latin American art, and is owned by Ruth Schmidheiny, Stephan Schmidheiny’s first wife.
Exhibitions
Cooperation with the Fondation Beyeler
Since 2010, the Daros Collection has been working closely with the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen near Basel, which has incorporated groups of work from Daros into its own collection displays. Daros is also supporting the Fondation Beyeler’s planned extension, making a generous donation to lay the cornerstone for this project.
2000: Moderna Museet, Stockholm: In the Power of Painting: Warhol, Polke, Richter, Twombly
Selected Daros exhibitions (2001 - 2008)
Between 2001 and 2008 Daros staged its own exhibitions, displaying works in temporary presentations at the Daros Exhibitions galleries in Zurich’s Löwenbräu Areal. This space was also used by the Daros Latinamerica Collection.
2004: Brice Marden: Drawings and Paintings
2002: Cy Twombly: Audible Silence
2000: In the Power of Painting: Warhol, Polke, Richter, Twombly
