Zentrum Paul Klee

It’s testament to the strength of Zentrum Paul Klee’s collection of works by Bern’s favourite artistic son (near enough anyway – the prolific 20th-century painter, teacher, musician and poet was technically from Münchenbuchsee, nine kilometres up the road), that it’s not totally upstaged by Renzo Piano’s inspired building-landform hybrid. Comprising three vast, sinuous waves of glass and steel that echo the hills in the distance, the combined museum and arts space opened in 2005 to house 4,000 Klee paintings, watercolours and drawings – 40 per cent of his entire oeuvre, and the most works in one place by a single internationally-renowned artist anywhere in the world. Some 120-150 are on display at any one time, curated by theme, so this striking space bears repeated visits, revealing different facets of the synthesis of expressionism, cubism and surrealism created by this visionary painter. The centre has also won well-deserved praise for its exemplary, hands-on studio for kids, where aspiring artists from four up can produce masterpieces of their own.