Mario Merz (1925–2003) is represented in the Raussmüller Collection by a remarkable group of energetic works that in many cases fill entire rooms, and which in their great variety reflect his holistic world view. Starting from the – all-underlying – ordering principles of nature, Merz lends form to their timeless laws in richly imaginative pictures and installations. Using materials such as brushwood, stones, glass and neon lighting, he builds situations of mythic power and poetry and has thereby created a new type of artwork.

In order to convey the complexity and creative wealth of the artist’s works, the Raussmüller Collection has issued a special Mario Merz Series of publications. Instead of describing broader strands of his oeuvre, such as his igloos, animals and Fibonacci sequences, the series takes an in-depth look at individual works. It thereby highlights the diversity of themes and manifestations that Merz has developed out of his intensive interrogation of the conditions of existence.

Visit our online platform Raussmüller Insights for in-depth information on artists and artworks and watch a film about the installation of Merz’s works in the Raussmüller Hallen, Basel and its connection with the surrounding space.

The validity of Merz’s works deeply moves the viewer and in 1999 caused the Merz presentation at Raussmüller’s Hallen für Neue Kunst to find its way into literature as the symbol of an elementary space, in Laszlò Krasznahorkai’s novel War and War.