Driven by an existential quest, Thierry Barbier-Mueller (1960–2022), a Geneva-based real estate entrepreneur and patron of the arts, assembled an impressive collection of works by major Swiss and international contemporary artists, such as Marina Abramović, Silvia Bächli, Georg Baselitz, Spencer Finch, Franz Gertsch, Nan Golding, Antony Gormley, Candida Höfer, Elsworth Kelly, Jannis Kounellis, Markus Raetz, Thomas Ruff, and Robert Wilson.
A Conversation Without Words, published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Musée Jenisch in Vevey, Switzerland, offers a survey of the Thierry Barbier-Mueller collection for the first time. Some 100 images of artworks from the collection are supplemented by interviews with the artists themselves. An essay that sheds light on the collection’s genesis and Thierry Barbier-Mueller's approach to art and collecting rounds out the book.