A striking red cube wrapped in wire mesh, surrounded by a slender moat, rises in the heart of Locarno like a beacon for art lovers. The Ghisla Art Collection brings together works by Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Enrico Castellani, Alighiero Boetti, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Christo & Jeanne Claude, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Rene Magritte, Joan Miro, Fernando Botero and many other luminaries of the contemporary art world. Designed by architect Franco Moro, the building itself is a work of art, and stepping inside feels like entering a private world where passion and vision converge.
The visit
Outside the museum, visitors are greeted by a rectangular steel sculpture by Basel-born artist Lori Hersberger, its overlapping modules reflecting the world in fragmented, shifting perspectives. A small bridge over the moat leads to the exhibition spaces within.
The ground floor and first floor are entirely devoted to temporary exhibitions. Two are planned for 2026: from 21 March to 23 August, a show dedicated to Joris Van de Moortel, an eclectic Belgian artist whose work weaves installation and painting with musical influences, offering a deeply personal reinterpretation of Northern European artistic history. The second exhibition, from 5 September 2026 to 6 January 2027, features the works of Elisabeth Scherffig, a German artist living and working in Milan whose practice is rooted in extraordinary mastery of drawing and a profound engagement with architecture, both urban and that which emerges from a dialogue with nature.
On the second floor, some fifty works from the Ghisla Collection survey the most compelling movements of the late 20th century: Arte Povera, Zero art, Informal art, Conceptual art, Abstract art, the New Dada, Spatialism, Graffiti art and Pop art. What astonishes visitors is not only the roster of celebrated masters but the exceptional quality and museum-scale dimensions of the individual works.
The collection is remarkably diverse in both artistic styles and the cultural backgrounds of the artists it encompasses, standing as a vivid example of enlightened patronage. The museum has an intimate, almost domestic atmosphere, as if you have been invited into the collectors' private home. And in a sense, you have: collector Pierino Ghisla explains, "It is actually my wife and myself who create the setting, based on our own taste and intuition, as if we were displaying the works in our own home and not in a public place." The full collection numbers 280 works, with around 80 on display at any time, partially renewed each year with fresh acquisitions. The Ghislas remain perpetually in search of new pieces: "When making our choices," the collector says, "we allow ourselves to be transported above all by our emotions: we follow neither fads nor trends and we are particularly interested in young artists who, though not yet famous, nevertheless display originality and personality."
An audio guide is included in the entry fee (CHF 18 adults, CHF 15 retired seniors, CHF 11 students) and is available in Italian, German, French and English.
The collector
After a distinguished career, Pierino Ghisla returned to his native Ticino with his wife Martine and fulfilled a lifelong dream: sharing the art they had passionately collected with fellow lovers of beauty. At just 14, Ghisla left Marolta in the Blenio Valley to visit an uncle who ran a fruit and vegetable import business in Brussels. He ended up staying, returning to Ticino only for holidays. As he built and expanded his uncle's enterprise, the business provided the means to assemble the remarkable collection that he and his wife had begun building together thirty years earlier, sparked by a painting by French artist Georges Mathieu that utterly captivated them. "However, we had to wait a few years before purchasing it," Ghisla recalls, "because we did not have the necessary funds. In the meantime, we befriended the gallery owner who was selling it. After acquiring that first painting," he continues, "we fell in love with a work by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, which my friend the gallery owner allowed us to buy in exchange for several 19th-century works we had at home. This marked the beginning of this fantastic adventure."
