Landscapes of the mind C.G. Jung and the exploration of the human psyche in Switzerland - Landesmuseum

The growing interest in the world of contemporary art and academia for the works of Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn is also documented by a series of world-class exhibitions promoted in recent times, under the auspices of the Eranos Foundation, by the Trussardi Foundation in Milan in 2015 (“The Great Mother”), by the New Museum in New York in 2016 (“The Keeper”), by the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2021 (“Elles font l'abstraction”), by the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in 2021-2022 (“Mujeres de la abstracción”), by the Kunsthalle in Mainz in 2023 (“Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn. Tiefes Wissen”), by the Museo Casa Rusca in Locarno in 2024-2025 (“Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn: artista - ricercatrice”) and, now, by the Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht in 2025 (“Tussen hemel en oorlog”) and the Landesmuseum in Zurich ("Landscapes of the mind C.G. Jung and the exploration of the human psyche in Switzerland"). The organization of these important exhibitions went hand in hand with the publication of the relative catalogues, which also documented a gradual diffusion of Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn's works, in anticipation of a future critical edition of these materials, the so-called "Blue Book," by the Eranos Foundation.

Switzerland has been home to a number of soul searchers over the years, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Friedrich Nietzsche and Carl Gustav Jung. Developments in psychiatry and psychoanalysis have a close association with Switzerland, which is still in evidence today, for example the pioneering Rorschach test, Ludwig Binswanger’s Daseinsanalysis or Jung’s analytical psychology. To mark the 150th birthday of C. G. Jung, the National Museum Zurich is presenting its first comprehensive exhibition covering the history of the exploration of the human psyche in Switzerland. The main exhibit is the legendary "Red Book," in which C. G. Jung made his notes during an intense spell of self-reflection. Art also helps open doors to the mind with visionary works by Johann Heinrich Füssli, Emma Kunz, Rudolf Steiner, Meret Oppenheim and Thomas Hirschhorn. This provides a psychological panorama covering every region in Switzerland, in which the connection between mind and landscape is presented in impressive fashion.