Since 2019, a museum has been established in Bäumler Park in Hohenems that is unparalleled in the Lake Constance region: ARCHE NOAH - Art & Nature. With the unique Hans Bäumler Collection, the globally exceptional Nature Collection and the Contemporary Art/Room, the museum combines art history, natural history and contemporary art at the highest level.
The Hans Bäumler Collection brings together over 100 masterpieces and spans an arc from the Munich School of the 19th century to French Impressionism and Classical Modernism. Outstanding positions such as Waldmüller, Spitzweg, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, Liebermann and Corinth enter into a dialog with Expressionists such as Franz Marc, Emil Nolde and Jawlensky. The final highlight is a still life by Pablo Picasso - a worthy conclusion to 130 years of art history, which can be experienced in rare density in Hohenems.
Pierre-Auguste RENOIR, Portrait of Marthe le Cœur (Portrait Mlle Marthe le Cœur), 1873 © ARCHE NOAH - Art & Nature
A second focus of the collection is on nature: fossils, minerals and animal specimens are presented as cultural and natural historical evidence. In this way, the museum also makes the reciprocal relationship between man and nature tangible - a concern that is further deepened by the Contemporary art/space. Here, new links between the historical collections and current artistic issues are created in changing collaborations with artists, curators and galleries.
Klimt and Vorarlberg
In the fall of 2025, Arche Noah will dedicate the exhibition "Klimt and Vorarlberg" for the first time to the hitherto little-examined connections between Gustav Klimt and the region. The starting point is the artist's friendship with the Dornbirn textile manufacturer Julius Rhomberg, partner in the company "Herrburger & Rhomberg". Rhomberg met Klimt during his training in Vienna - an acquaintance that is reflected in private documents and artistic traces. Particularly impressive is a wedding card designed by Klimt in 1895, which has survived as a testimony to this relationship.
One chapter of the exhibition is also dedicated to Hermann Flöge, authorized signatory of "Herrburger & Rhomberg" and brother of Emilie Flöge, Klimt's partner. These family and business connections open up a new chapter in the history of the relationship between Vorarlberg and Vienna around 1900. The exhibition is complemented by historical textiles from Dornbirn, which were produced according to designs by artists from the Vienna Secession and document the high standards of artistic design in the textile industry.
With this special exhibition, Noah's Ark expands its profile to include a surprising, culturally and historically significant aspect. It shows that the paths of a world-class artist such as Gustav Klimt crossed not only in Vienna, but also in Vorarlberg - and that many an untapped treasure of art and cultural history still awaits in the region.
September 27, 2025 to January 6, 2026
COMBITICKET Hans Bäumler Collection - Dornbirn City Museum
During the exhibition "Gustav Klimt and Vorarlberg", it will be possible to purchase a combined ticket. This combined ticket allows access to the Arche Noah Museum and the Dornbirn City Museum at a reduced admission price. The Dornbirn City Museum is showing the exhibition "Our house! Julius and Eugenie Rhomberg once lived in the house of the Dornbirn City Museum. The friendship between the Dornbirn textile manufacturer Julius Rhomberg and Gustav Klimt is the focus of our exhibition "Gustav Klimt and Vorarlberg".
www.arche-noah-museum.at
Insight into the Nature Collection © ARCHE NOAH - Art & Nature
