The Beyeler Foundation museum includes a space for special exhibitions staged to complement the permanent collection, which is not on public display.

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 Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh to Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Francis Bacon.

The culmination of Beyeler's career came in 2007 when all the works that passed through his hands were reunited at the museum for a grand exhibition that included van Gogh's 1889 Portrait of Postman Roulin, Lichtenstein's Plus and Minus III and a huge expressive drip painting by Jackson Pollock.

[6] The collection is expanding, particularly in terms of works made after 1950 (recent acquisitions include pieces by Louise Bourgeois and Wolfgang Tillmans).

Recently, the permanent collections are rarely open to the public and the visitors can only visit temporary exhibitions featuring a specific artist.

According to a design of the Italian architect Renzo Piano the construction of the museum began in September 1994 in the Berower Park in Riehen.