Art dealers Ernst Beyeler (1921) and Hilda Kunz (1922), known as Hildy, created the Beyeler Foundation in 1982 and commissioned Renzo Piano to design a museum, the Fondation Beyeler, to house their private collection. The Beyeler Foundation opened its doors on October 18, 1997, presenting 140 works of modern classics, including 23 Picassos. The overall collection of 200 works of classic modernism reflect the views of Hildy and Ernst Beyeler on 20th-century art and highlight features typical of the period from Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne and Vincent van Gogh to Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Francis Bacon. By building Renzo Piano's museum structure in 1997, the Beyeler Foundation made its collection permanently accessible to the public. In 2006, approximately 340,000 persons visited the museum. The museum was designed by the famous Italian architect Renzo Piano to be bathed in natural light, which led to the idea of installing a lightweight glass roof. It rests on top of the solid foundation walls like free-floating element, forming a sharp contrast to the massiveness of the natural stone. Hildy Beyeler died on July 18, 2008, and Ernst died on February 25, 2010.
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