Library
Hours and consultation
Tuesday-Friday: 2pm – 6pm (Except public holidays)
On-site consultation, on request:
- References from the collection / Archives
Requests at least 48 hours in advance: bibliotheque.mcba@plateforme10.ch
Free access:
- A selection of books about artists represented in the collection, in connection with current exhibitions or about a museum’s life and activities; periodicals about fine arts.
Winter closure: 22.12.2025 – 4.1.2026
Contact
Bibliothèque du Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts
Place de la Gare 16
1003 Lausanne
bibliotheque.mcba@plateforme10.ch
+41 21 318 44 50
Art history, artists, museology, the art market, cultural mediation, conservation, private collections…
The MCBA library offers a specialised collection of materials on the visual arts from the 19th century to today. The collection covers painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, video, and new media, with special emphasis on the artists who are part of the museum’s collections, artists from Vaud and the arts in the canton. Some 40,000 items (exhibition and museum catalogues, monographs on artists, specialised periodicals, auction house catalogues) are available for on-site consultation.
The library also conserves the archives of both MCBA and the Association des Amis du musée. It maintains as well the Balthus Archives, which are on long-term loan to the museum, and the library of the Toms Pauli Foundation.
To download (in french)
Resources
Links
- Catalogue of Swisscovery, a national platform that currently brings together the scholarship of 470 Swiss libraries: swisscovery.slsp.ch
- The quadrilingual SIKART Lexicon: sikart.ch
- Art Discovery Group Catalogue, research gateway to art literature: artdiscovery.net
(An access the ressources of many art libraries in Europe and worldwide) - Catalogues of the quadrilingual Swiss National Library: nb.admin.ch/snl/fr/home/collections/collections-bibliotheque.html
