Kunstmuseum St. Gallen

The Kunstmuseum St. Gallen holds the main art collection of the canton, occupying a late-19th-century building in the Stadtpark. The collection is strongest in 19th and 20th-century Swiss and German art, with significant holdings of Expressionism and a good representation of Swiss artists including Cuno Amiet and Giovanni Giacometti.

The modern and contemporary sections are the real strength: the museum has been collecting contemporary work consistently for decades and the result is a coherent collection that includes Kiefer, Beuys, and several important Swiss contemporary artists. Temporary exhibitions are shown in the adjacent Lokremise, a converted engine shed that has become one of the main cultural venues in the city.

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A story
The museum's most famous holding is Anselm Kiefer's monumental series of lead books — enormous lead volumes stacked in vitrines, some open to reveal painted pages. Kiefer gave the series to the museum in the 1980s and they have been a centrepiece of the collection since. Lead books were a recurring motif in Kiefer's work during that period, representing the weight of history and the fragility of knowledge.