Catalog of the exhibition "Utopia, photographs by René Burri: Alberto Giacometti, Le Corbusier, JeanTinguely, Yves Klein, Pablo Picasso" presented at the Museum of the Swiss in the World, Château de Penthes, Switzerland (June 15 - December 15, 2013).

René Burri (1933-2014) is a Swiss photographer. After studying at the Zurich School of Applied Arts, he first worked in cinema, which influenced his art before finally turning to photography. In 1955 he joined the Magnum agency.

From 1956, René Burri explored the world and delivered photographic reports for the Magnum agency. He sets foot on each continent and captures, with his lens, the most diverse cultures in a world in full evolution and often in revolution. Photography becomes for him a privileged means of personal expression which allows him, above all, to show images reflecting his own concerns.
Thus, René Burri embarks on an insatiable quest for the best in Man, at a time when everything is possible for everyone and where people wake up with the irrepressible hope of building a perfect world: Utopia, as elusive as 'bewitching. René Burri, caught in this communicative trance, was a central witness to this global quest.

The Museum of the Swiss in the World presented René Burri’s intimate and powerful portraits of five artists who worked for the renewal of the utopian ideal: Le Corbusier, Giacometti, Tinguely, Klein and Picasso.

Located on the outskirts of Geneva and in the middle of international organizations, in a magnificent park, the Domaine de Penthes hosts the Museum of the Swiss in the World, a private museum, managed by a public utility Foundation. The museum houses a permanent collection which focuses on Switzerland and the Swiss around the world and regularly organizes temporary exhibitions.