Following two years of costly construction work, the art museum "Centre PasquArt" in the city of Biel has reopened its doors to the public with an exhibition focussing on portrait painting.

Following two years of costly construction work, the art museum "Centre PasquArt" in the city of Biel has reopened its doors to the public with an exhibition focussing on portrait painting.

The exhibition lasts until February 27 and is called "Au centre, l'artiste" or "At the centre, the artist." Most of the 150 artists featured are Swiss and include such established names as Ferdinand Hodler, Cuno Amiet and Giovanni Giacometti.

While portrait painting has been a very popular art form for centuries, the 1960s saw brought new techniques of self-expression, particularly new techniques in photography and video.

The exhibition traces those experiments and puts them next to both Swiss and international artistic trends and developments of the past century.

The exhibition marks the reopening of a museum that has undergone two years of refurbishment and architectural upgrades of its old buildings, and the construction of a new one. Overall costs totalled SFr21 million ($14 million).
The Centre PasquArt houses three sections: The art museum, as well as two sections focussing on photography and film.

From staff and wire reports.

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