The Segantini Museum houses the most extensive and important collection of works by Giovanni Segantini, the great symbolist and innovator of Alpine painting.
The extraordinary esteem in which Segantini and his art were held in Europe manifested itself not least in the construction of a museum dedicated to him. The Segantini Museum was opened in St. Moritz in 1908, nine years after the artist's death. The architecture by Nicolaus Hartmann was based on the monumental pavilion that the artist had designed for his Engadin panorama for the Paris World Exhibition (1900). The circular building with its mighty dome has the appearance of a mausoleum and looks like a walk-in monument.
The collection, which has reached a considerable size with 37 paintings, is complemented by a collection of 26 drawings that is unparalleled in its scope and quality. Its highlight is the monumental Alpine triptych "Life – Nature – Death".
Segantini Museum, St. Moritz
The domed hall with the triptych "Life – Nature – Death" by Giovanni Segantini
splendur e sumbriva
All the colors of snow
The exhibition juxtaposes Segantini's mature winter landscapes with those of some of his contemporaries on both sides of the Alps. While Giovanni Giacometti from Val Bregaglia, who was Segantini's pupil until his death, studies the wintry Alpine light and the colors of the snow only in their chromatic effects and refrains from any symbolic transfiguration, the snow in “Funerale bianco” by the Ticino artist Edoardo Berta and in “Da una legenda alpina” by the Piedmontese artist Carlo Fornara takes on a symbolic value and becomes the subject of philosophical reflections.
In addition to the aforementioned artists, Cesare Maggi, Angelo Morbelli and Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo are also represented in the exhibition. A particular highlight is Segantini's divisionist masterpiece “Savognino d'inverno” from 1890, which is rarely exhibited in Switzerland.
Giovanni Segantini, Ritorno dal bosco. Foto: Stephan Schenk
Giovanni Segantini, Savognino d'inverno, 1890. Private property. All rights reserved.Events
Guided tours
On request all year round in German, English, Italian.
13.4.2025
Guided tours of the special exhibition (in German)
on the following Sundays:
- January 12 and 26,
- February 9 and 23,
- March 16 and 30,
- April 13.
28.3.2025
Obsession, fear, longing? - On the significance of the theme of death in the biography and work of Giovanni Segantini - lecture with Dr. Mirella Carbone
Segantini's childhood was overshadowed by death: Just a few months after his birth, his brother, two years his senior, died in a fire; he was followed by his mother in 1865 and, just one year later, by his father. Are these childhood experiences the sole reason for the strong dominance of the theme of death in Segantini's art and in his writings? The thought of his own death also seems to have preoccupied the very young artist, as evidenced by early self-portraits, among other things. When Segantini passed away at the age of 41 on the Schafberg above Pontresina, this sudden, unexpected death raised many questions that have not yet found a clear answer.
Using selected examples from the museum's own collection and drawing on original texts by Segantini, Dr. Mirella Carbone will examine the multifaceted character of the theme of death in the artist's life and work.
An aperitif will be offered after the lecture.
Saturday, 28.03.2025 - 17:30
Admission is free (collection).
Limited number of seats.
Registration under: info@segantini-museum.ch or by telephone at 081 833 44 54
14.12.2024
Vernissage of the exhibition: All the colors of snow
Saturday, December 14, 2024, 5:30 pm