Simon Berger

The Persistence of Presence

September 12 – October 10, 2026

National Gallery of Bosnia and Herezgovina

From 12 September to 10 October 2026, the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina will present The Persistence of Presence, an exhibition in which Swiss artist Simon Berger enters into dialogue with the work of Ferdinand Hodler, one of the most important figures of Swiss modern art.

The exhibition is rooted in the Gallery’s unique collection of Hodler’s works. More than one hundred artworks found their way to Sarajevo through the remarkable story of Jeanne Charles, Hodler’s model and companion, who later married the Bosnian diplomat Mehmed Ćišić. After travelling across countries and generations, the collection ultimately found its permanent home in Sarajevo.

Yet the story of these works did not end with their arrival. During the siege of Sarajevo, when the Gallery itself came under shelling, the collection was safeguarded in a protected storage depot that also became a refuge for people who had lost their homes. In this extraordinary circumstance, art protected people, and people protected art.

Drawing on this powerful historical and human experience, Simon Berger’s project explores the relationship between memory, presence, and endurance. A century after Hodler, Berger returns to questions that occupied the Swiss master: how can the past be made present, and how can art preserve what might otherwise be lost? Through a contemporary artistic language and his own distinctive visual approach, Berger reinterprets Hodler’s legacy, creating a new space where past and present meet.

The Persistence of Presence brings together two Swiss artists separated by time yet connected through a shared reflection on memory, history, and the role of art in preserving human experience.

The exhibition is realized as part of the project Drawing Bridges – Ferdinand Hodler and Simon Berger, in cooperation with the Embassy of Switzerland in Bosnia and Herzegovina and with the support of NOA contemporary.