The Baroque era, which lasted from roughly 1580 and 1780, was a time of enormous contrasts: Opulence and innovation, on the one hand; death and crises, on the other. Ongoing religious wars and the opening of global trade networks led to mass migration and cultural exchange, but there was also famine and exploitation. A new exhibition at the Swiss National Museum in Zürich – Baroque, Age of Contrasts – presents exquisite objects from Baroque architecture, garden culture, fashion and art, highlighting the historical context of these items in order to illuminate this creative epoch in all its glorious ambiguity.
