Pay de Rêve – or art in the Kronenhalle.
03.07.2025Hardly any other restaurant in the world is rather more renowned for its exquisite art collection than for its culinary offerings or stylish atmosphere than the world-famous Kronenhalle in Zurich.
On its website, the restaurant, which has become an institution, refers to its former patron Gustav Zumsteg, who, as a “passionate mediator and lender … sent his own paintings to international exhibitions for decades.” From the early 1940s onwards, he repeatedly hung works from his art collection, with a focus on French modern art, in the brasserie and dining rooms of the Kronenhalle. “To this day, you can dine beneath a village scene by Marc Chagall, gaze upon suns and moons by Joan Miró, encounter the southern light of Pierre Bonnard, or marvel at the dynamic skies of Georges Braque.” the website continues.
According to the Wikipedia entry on the Kronenhalle, there are currently 27 works of art by famous painters such as Marc Chagall, Georges Braque, Lyonel Feininger, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, or Wassily Kandinsky. According to Wikipedia, the Kronenhalle Bar, which opened in 1965 and is adjacent to the restaurant, features works by Picasso, Miró, Matisse, Rauschenberg, and others. The sculpture “Eule” (Owl) and the lighting fixtures are by Diego Giacometti. The bar is also a setting in Christian Kracht’s novel Eurotrash.
In 2024, Scheidegger & Spiess published the book “Pays de rêve – The Art of the Kronenhalle Zurich” about the collection in this world-famous restaurant, edited by Sibylle Ryer and Isabel Zürcher.
The publishing house writes about the richly illustrated, 128-page work: “The Kronenhalle in Zurich is a living legend. 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of its takeover by the equally legendary landlady Hulda Zumsteg (1890–1984) and her husband. For decades, the restaurant and adjoining bar have brought together bohemians and bourgeoisie. Numerous personalities from the worlds of art, design, literature, and the stage were among the regular guests.”
And further: “The new edition of this book, first published in 2019, approaches this art collection from several perspectives: Day and night, photographs provide exclusive impressions of the brasserie, dining rooms, and bar. Literary texts turn images into protagonists. The history of the collection and the catalog of works place the art of the Kronenhalle in a broader art-historical context and portray Zurich’s traditional restaurant against the backdrop of an extraordinary family and company history.”
You can order the book “Pays de Rêve” directly from the publisher here for CHF 49.00.