The Poster Collection is one of the most extensive and important archives of its kind in the world. Over 380,000 posters, 150,000 of them researched and inventoried, document Swiss and international poster history—including political, commercial, and cultural posters—from its beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. The geographical emphasis—itself determined by the history of poster design—is on Switzerland, Europe, Japan, Cuba, the former Soviet Union, and the United States. The collection is continually expanded and brought up to date in dialogue with contemporary output and acknowledging historical achievements. The collection’s historical, thematic, and geographical diversity offers both a survey of poster art and a look into a visual archive of the everyday world. In addition to the principal questions of graphics and typology, the collection also concentrates on a socio-political understanding of design, as posters reflect in a unique way the aesthetic and social processes of a particular era.

The poster collection is supported by