Culture

Famous Artists from Switzerland

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Updated August 30, 2019 60.3k views 147 items

List of the most popular artists from Switzerland, listed alphabetically with photos when available. For centuries artists have been among the world's most important people, helping chronicle history and keep us entertained with one of the earliest forms of entertainment. You might also be interested in famous Austrian artists and famous artists from Norway. Whether they're known for painting, sculpting, etching or drawing, the famous Swiss artists on this list have kept that tradition alive by creating renowned pieces of art that have been praised around the world. You can find useful information below about these notable Swiss artists, such as when they were born and where their place of birth was.

Examples include Alberto Giacometti and Jean Tinguely.

This list answers the questions, "Which famous artists are from Switzerland?" and "Who are the most well-known Swiss artists?"

For further information on these historic Swiss artists, click on their names. If you're a fine art lover use this list of celebrated Swiss artists to discover some new paintings that you will enjoy.

Alberto Giacometti is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
The Couple, Tall Figure, III

Birthplace: Borgonovo, Switzerland

Associated periods or movements: Cubism, Surrealism, Expressionism

Nationality: Switzerland

Art Forms: Sculpture, Painting, Drawing

Alberto Giacometti (UK: , US: , Italian: [alˈbɛrto dʒakoˈmetti]; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker. Beginning in 1922, he lived and ...more

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#21 of 101 Famous Expressionist Artists #18 of 65 The Greatest Famous Surrealist Artists #37 of 63 Famous Cubist Artists, Ranked

Urs Graf is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland

Birthplace: Solothurn, Switzerland

Associated periods or movements: Renaissance

Nationality: Switzerland

Art Forms: Painting

Urs Graf (c. 1485 in Solothurn, Switzerland – possibly before 13 October 1528) was a Swiss Renaissance goldsmith, painter and printmaker (of woodcuts, etchings and engravings), as well as a ...more
Hermann Hesse is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Lago Maggiore, Casa Bodmer, Piktors Verwandlungen

Birthplace: Calw, Germany

Nationality: Switzerland, Germany

Art Forms: Painting

Hermann Karl Hesse (German: [ˈhɛɐ̯man ˈhɛsə]; July 2, 1877 – August 9, 1962) was a German-born poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include Demian, Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The ...more

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#35 of 1,176 The Best Writers of All Time #174 of 925 People We Wish Were Still Alive #917 of 2,444 The Most Influential People of All Time

Alice Bailly is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Self-Portrait

Birthplace: Geneva, Switzerland

Associated periods or movements: Fauvism, Dada, Cubism

Nationality: Switzerland

Art Forms: Painting

Alice Bailly (25 February 1872 – 1 January 1938) was a radical Swiss painter, known for her interpretations on cubism, fauvism, her wool paintings, and her participation in the Dada movement. In ...more

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#10 of 21 Famous Fauvism Artists, Ranked #20 of 63 Famous Cubist Artists, Ranked

Daniel Spoerri is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Kichka's Breakfast I

Birthplace: Galați, Sud-Est, Romania

Associated periods or movements: Nouveau réalisme

Nationality: Switzerland

Daniel Spoerri (born 27 March 1930 in Galați) is a Swiss artist and writer born in Romania. Spoerri is best known for his "snare-pictures," a type of assemblage or object art, in which ...more
Méret Oppenheim ... is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Object, Red Head, Blue Body

Birthplace: Charlottenburg, Germany

Associated periods or movements: Surrealism

Nationality: Switzerland

Art Forms: Sculpture, Painting

Meret (or Méret) Elisabeth Oppenheim (6 October 1913 – 15 November 1985) was a German-born Swiss Surrealist artist and photographer. Oppenheim was a member of the Surrealist movement ...more
Le Corbusier is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Still Life, Abstract Composition, Still Life Filled with Space

Birthplace: La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

Nationality: Switzerland, France

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who was better known as Le Corbusier, was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called ...more
Max Bill is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Endlose Treppe, Bildsäulen-Dreiergruppe, Combillation

Birthplace: Winterthur, Switzerland

Associated periods or movements: De Stijl

Nationality: Switzerland

Max Bill was a Swiss architect, artist, painter, typeface designer, industrial designer and graphic designer.
Jean Tinguely is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Stravinsky Fountain, Fragment from Homage to New York

Birthplace: Switzerland, European Free Trade Association, Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg, Sarine District

Associated periods or movements: Nouveau réalisme

Nationality: Switzerland

Art Forms: Sculpture, Painting

Jean Tinguely (22 May 1925 – 30 August 1991) was a Swiss sculptor best known for his kinetic art sculptural machines (known officially as metamechanics) that extended the Dada tradition into the ...more
Robert Frank is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Men of Air, New York, Ranch Market

Birthplace: Switzerland, European Free Trade Association, Zurich District, Zürich, Canton of Zurich

Nationality: Switzerland, United States of America

Art Forms: Photography

Robert Frank (born November 9, 1924) is a Swiss-American photographer and documentary filmmaker. His most notable work, the 1958 book titled The Americans, earned Frank comparisons to a ...more
Johannes Itten is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Bewegungsstudie II, Bewegung II, Baumstudie (study)

Birthplace: Wachseldorn, Switzerland

Associated periods or movements: Expressionism

Nationality: Switzerland

Art Forms: Painting, Drawing

Johannes Itten (11 November 1888 – 25 March 1967) was a Swiss expressionist painter, designer, teacher, writer and theorist associated with the Bauhaus (Staatliches Bauhaus) school. Together ...more
Melissa Auf der Maur is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland

Birthplace: Montreal, Canada

Nationality: Canada, Switzerland, United States of America

Melissa Gaboriau Auf der Maur (; born March 17, 1972) is a Canadian musician, singer-songwriter, photographer and actress. Auf der Maur began performing in 1993 after forming the indie rock band ...more
H. R. Giger is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Penis Landscape

Birthplace: Switzerland, Chur, European Free Trade Association, Plessur District, Canton of Graubünden

Associated periods or movements: Contemporary art

Nationality: Switzerland

Art Forms: Sculpture, Painting

Hans Ruedi Giger ( GHEE-gər; German: [ˈɡiːɡər]; 5 February 1940 – 12 May 2014) was a Swiss painter, best known for airbrush images of humans and machines linked together in a cold biomechanical ...more

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12 Creepy Facts About H.R. Giger, The Artist Who Designed The Alien From 'Alien' #400 of 925 People We Wish Were Still Alive #8 of 88 Famous Contemporary Artists, Ranked

Henry Fuseli is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Odysseus in front of Scylla and Charybdis, Henry Fuseli in Conversation with Johann Jakob Bodmer, The Nightmare

Birthplace: Zürich, Switzerland

Associated periods or movements: Romanticism, Sturm und Drang

Nationality: Switzerland, United Kingdom

Art Forms: Painting

Henry Fuseli ( FEW-zə-lee, few-ZEL-ee; German: Johann Heinrich Füssli; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman and writer on art who spent much of his life in ...more
Matthäus Merian is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland

Birthplace: Basel, Switzerland

Associated periods or movements: Baroque

Nationality: Switzerland, Germany

Matthäus Merian der Ältere (or "Matthew", "the Elder", or "Sr."; 22 September 1593 – 19 June 1650) was a Swiss-born engraver who worked in Frankfurt for ...more
Karl Bodmer is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Indians Hunting the Bison [State 1], Dacota Woman and Assiniboin Girl, Hunting of the Grizzly Bear

Birthplace: Zürich, Switzerland

Nationality: Switzerland

Johann Carl Bodmer (11 February 1809 – 30 October 1893) was a Swiss-French printmaker, etcher, lithographer, zinc engraver, draughtsman, painter, illustrator and hunter. Known as Karl Bodmer in ...more
Roman Signer is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Roman Signer Der Tisch, Kayak, Action Kurhaus Weissbad

Birthplace: Appenzell, Switzerland

Nationality: Switzerland

Art Forms: Sculpture, Photography, Installation art, Video art

Roman Signer (born 1938 in Appenzell, Switzerland) is principally a visual artist who works in sculpture, art installations photography, and video.
Anton Graff is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland

Birthplace: Winterthur, Switzerland

Associated periods or movements: Neoclassicism

Nationality: Switzerland, Germany

Art Forms: Painting

Anton Graff (18 November 1736 – 22 June 1813) was an eminent Swiss portrait artist. Among his famous subjects were Friedrich Schiller, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Heinrich von Kleist, Frederick ...more
Arnold Böcklin is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Isle of the Dead

Birthplace: Basel, Switzerland

Associated periods or movements: Symbolist literature, Vienna Secession

Nationality: Switzerland

Art Forms: Painting

Arnold Böcklin (16 October 1827 – 16 January 1901) was a Swiss symbolist painter.
Andreas Heumann is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland

Birthplace: Munich, Germany

Nationality: Switzerland, United Kingdom, Germany

Art Forms: Photography, Painting, Printmaking

Andreas Heumann (1946-2017) is a photographer and painter, born in Munich and brought up in Switzerland. On leaving school he began an apprenticeship in Bern to study block-making and printing. ...more
Félix Vallotton ... is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland

Birthplace: Lausanne, Switzerland

Associated periods or movements: Les Nabis

Nationality: Switzerland

Félix Edouard Vallotton (December 28, 1865 – December 29, 1925) was a Swiss and French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as Les Nabis. He was an important ...more
Henry Suso is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland

Birthplace: Überlingen, Germany

Nationality: Switzerland

Henry Suso, O.P. (also called Amandus, a name adopted in his writings, and Heinrich Seuse in German), was a German Dominican friar and the most popular vernacular writer of the fourteenth ...more
Cuno Amiet is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Cuno Amiet Sommerlandschaft I, Landschaft mit Bäumen und Hügeln, 1905

Birthplace: Solothurn, Switzerland

Associated periods or movements: Expressionism

Nationality: Switzerland

Art Forms: Sculpture, Painting

Cuno Amiet (28 March 1868 – 6 July 1961) was a Swiss painter, illustrator, graphic artist and sculptor. As the first Swiss painter to give precedence to colour in composition, he was a pioneer ...more
Gunter Sachs is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland

Birthplace: Schweinfurt, Germany

Nationality: Switzerland, Germany

Fritz Gunter Sachs (14 November 1932 – 7 May 2011) was a German photographer, author, industrialist, and latterly head of an institute that researched claims of astrology. As a young man he ...more
Christian Marclay is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list Famous Artists from Switzerland
Video Quartet

Birthplace: San Rafael, California

Nationality: Switzerland, United States of America

Christian Ernest Marclay (born January 11, 1955) is a visual artist and composer. He holds both American and Swiss nationality. Marclay's work explores connections between sound, noise, ...more