Exhibition “A Dream of a Ball Gown” open art museum

“ Dream of a Ball Gown” is the first public exhibition of artistic works from the UPK Basel's picture storage. The exhibition extends the Hidden Treasures from Swiss Psychiatric Clinics series, which draws attention to collections and artistic convolutes that are unknown to the public.

Following the presentation at the University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) Basel between December 2024 and March 2025, the exhibition can now be seen at the open art museum, the center for Swiss Outsider Art, Art Brut and Naive Art - supplemented by additional works that provide a deeper insight into the collection. The aim is also to open up new perspectives on healing art and creative ways of promoting mental health.

Most of the works from the UPK Basel picture collection were created by patients on site between 1960 and 1990. On the one hand, they are a reflection of society and the understanding of psychiatry and mental health at the time. On the other hand, they are direct testimonies to an individual and often intensive examination of personal life motifs and the constant struggle for the right form and the right material.

The works on display act as social seismographs. They reflect the perception of the world at different times in a personal, direct way. The works tell of the search for stability, for meaning - and of the approach to what is, as well as to what is lost or hidden and longed for.

The exhibition “Ein Traum von einem Ballkleid” (A dream of a ball gown) with works from the picture storage of the University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) Basel is complemented by individual works from the artist's own collection, which were also created in Basel. A parallel solo exhibition will be dedicated to the important writer and visual artist Adelheid Duvanel (1936-1996) from November 9, 2025.