First off, ignore this cheesy headline. I can’t resist a good pun.
Second of all, I deserve to be shunned. I’ve lived in Charlotte, North Carolina for two years and had never been to the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. Despite the fact its less than a mile from my house. Coming from someone who lives for design history, I should probably be put in some sort of design time out.
Well, time out ended two weeks ago when I used the last day of Holiday Break to finally get my butt into this beautiful museum.
The Bechtler exists because of Andreas Bechtler, who was inspired by his parents to make the entire family collection available to the public. Up until 2010 most of the works were held privately in Switzerland by the Bechtler family. The collection features works from inspiring artists of the mid 20th century. Beautiful pieces from Warhol to Picasso to Max Bill. Also, the Bechtlers may be the hippest family I’ve ever heard of. The collection features a series of family portraits by Andy Warhol. Yes. They commissioned Andy Warhol to do their family portraits. Makes my Christmas card this year seem awfully lame.
So you gotta go. Mostly for the fourth floor gallery which houses a beautiful collection for lovers of geometry, Op art, and anything bright, bold, and colorful. Be sure to check out the showcasing of Max Bill’s “Concrete Art”, a concept of creating art with “no symbolic implications”. It’s some groovy stuff, and the Bechtler does an amazing job of educating the viewer while simultaneously immersing them in the art. Plus it makes for a good picture, so why not?
