AND IT BEGAN SO MARVELLOUSLY – LIVING IN 1930s SWITZERLAND

Du 18 juillet au 26 octobre 2025, découvrez la nouvelle exposition du Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève.

In 1948, the historian of modern art and architecture Sigfried Giedion came to a bitter conclusion: the modernist utopia, fuelled by the hope of a better world through mechanisation, had gone off track. What was meant to drive architectural progress in the 1930s devolved into an instrument of destruction, precipitating a global cataclysm.
Close to major figures such as Le Corbusier, Hans Arp, László Moholy-Nagy, and Max Ernst,
Sigfried Giedion embodied the link between the driving forces of modernity in Switzerland in the interwar period and strengthened their connection with prominent global cities.
Through historical examples from Zurich and Geneva, such as the iconic Clarté building, the exhibition dives into the contrasting visions of this modernity, offering a tangible, spatial encounter. And it began so marvellously explores a clash of cultures by confronting different approaches to the art of living and highlights the ambiguity of this era as it oscillated between ideal and reality.