Collection

History

The museum’s 5000-strong collection includes almost 400 paintings, around 100 sculptures, several objects of applied art and a remarkable number of prints, posters, drawings and watercolours by Swiss and international artists from the 17th to the 21st century. It is the fruit of over a hundred years of enrichment thanks to generous donations, purchases and prestigious deposits.

The renovation plans of 2011 to 2014 required the relocation of the entire collection, which provided an opportunity to take stock of it and, at the same time, to retrace its history. Until the 1950s, the collection consisted mainly of paintings and sculptures by Swiss and regional artists of the 19th and 20th centuries, many of them deposited at the museum on behalf of the Swiss Confederation and the Gottfried Keller Foundation. Among the artists represented are Albert Anker, the Barraud brothers, Emile Chambon, Charles Clément, Lucien Grounauer, Gustave Jeanneret, Edouard Jeanmaire, Charles L’Eplattenier, Carl Moll, Paul-Théophile Robert, Léopold Robert, Otto and Benjamin Vautier.

In the second half of the 20th century, under the impetus of curators Marcel Bergeon, Renée Faessler and Charles Chautems, acquisitions consisted mainly of prints, and noteworthy collections were built up. The print collection currently contains over a thousand works by Swiss and international artists such as Adam Appel, Armleder, Auberjonois, Bonnard, Corot, Disler, Evrard, Giacometti, Francisco Goya, Hartung, Jacot, Jaquet, Le Corbusier, Luginbühl, Matisse, Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec and Villon, to name but a few.

Every three years since 1992, the MBAL has organized a major event dedicated to contemporary print art. The museum’s aim is to encourage reflection on printed art and to support the means of artists who use this medium to express themselves.

Today, the exhibition strategy of the permanent collection has deviated from the traditional method of confining it to an allotted room, and has evolved to make it interact with the temporary exhibitions. A selection of works is put forward for each new exhibition to echo the main themes of the current temporary exhibition, thus creating a dialogue between big names in contemporary art, young talents and artists from the museum’s collection. 2023 marks a record year for the exhibition of the museum’s collection, where over 127 works were presented to the public as part of Le plaisir du texte and animal instinct/instinct animal.

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Acquisition policy

Our Acquisitions Policy

The Société des beaux-arts du Locle (SBAL) is a forward-looking institution that acts as a catalyst for cultural vitality at local, national and international levels. Specialising in the discovery and promotion of contemporary art and printed art, it sees its collections evolve thanks to a dynamic acquisitions policy, which is regularly reviewed by its committee. This approach forms part of a close and privileged collaboration with the management and staff of the Musée des beaux-arts du Locle (MBAL).

Our objectives

This policy aims to ensure the coherence and integrity of our approach:

Strategic alignment: To ensure that every work acquired is in line with the SBAL’s mission and the collection’s development priorities;
Harmonious integration: To promote the healthy growth of the collection and ensure that new works are successfully integrated into our exhibitions;
Ethical and legal rigour: To guide acquisitions decisions in strict compliance with federal laws and museum codes of ethics;
Inclusive values: To consider each acquisition through the lens of equity, diversity, inclusion, environmental responsibility and transparency;
Gender parity: To ensure, as far as possible, a gender balance amongst the artists represented.

What we acquire

Our collection aims to reflect a diverse range of artistic creation. We prioritise:

Works representative of Swiss and international art;
New works in printed art and contemporary art;
Works by artists featured in our exhibition programme;
Major works by leading historical figures in regional art.

Our current priorities include strengthening our historical collections, discovering new talent (both male and female artists), acquiring works that resonate with current artistic trends, and enriching our archival and audiovisual collections.

Selection criteria

All acquisition proposals are assessed on the basis of their potential to:

Be of interest to scientific research;
Be in a satisfactory state of preservation;
Complement and enrich existing collections;
Offer potential for public display;
Constitute a relevant documentary source;
Be of particular artistic or historical interest.

Provenance and Due Diligence

The integrity of our collections is non-negotiable. In accordance with the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, the SBAL defines provenance as the complete history of an object (including its ownership history) from its creation, thereby guaranteeing its authenticity and legitimate ownership.

Prior to any acquisition, we compile comprehensive documentation. The SBAL refrains from acquiring cultural property whose origin, provenance or authenticity cannot be guaranteed. We act in strict compliance with the Federal Act on the International Transfer of Cultural Property (LTBC) of 20 June 2003, which implements the 1970 UNESCO Convention.

Rigorous due diligence is applied to identify the source and trace the history of each object before it enters our collections.

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