Pays De Rêve : The Art of the Kronenhalle Zurich

A portrait of the art and history behind the beloved Zurich restaurant Kronenhalle.

Zurich’s Kronenhalle restaurant is a living legend. For decades, the restaurant and adjacent bar have brought together the city’s bohemians and the bourgeoisie, and 2024 marks the centenary of the likewise legendary Hulda Zumsteg (1890–1984) taking over as its landlady. Celebrities from the worlds of art, design, literature, and stage were among its regulars, and works by artists such as Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, and Pablo Picasso are naturally part of its interior.

This revised edition of Pays de rêve explores the art at the Kronenhalle from various perspectives. Photographs offer atmospheric impressions of the brasserie, dining rooms, and bar, in daylight and at night. Literary texts turn paintings into protagonists. A complete catalog and the story of its emergence and evolution place the collection in a wider context and portray one of Zurich’s most traditional restaurants against the backdrop of an extraordinary family and business history.

The restaurant’s enduring success is grounded in Hulda Zumsteg’s leadership and in the friendships that her son Gustav Zumsteg (1915–2005) brought to Zurich. His deep appreciation of art led him to assemble the fine collection that today turns every lunch, dinner, or drink at the Kronenhalle into an encounter with classical modernism in art.

Sibylle Ryser is a graphic designer who runs her own studio for book design in Basel.

Isabel Zürcher is a Basel-based art historian working as a writer, critic, and editor.