SHARING WITH ME

This is a trip which had been planned months ahead. Basel. At the beginning of the year when I received the annual planning for the Beyeler Foundation, there was to be a Max Ernst retrospective - not to be missed. Then a few weeks later I heard there was to be a major Picasso retrospective at the Kunst Museum - as important if not more so than the Ernst as you will learn. Not to be missed. The two of them were a must and this time I would persuade Pierrette to come with me. Her first visit to Basel. To be honest, I only asked once. Basel or Bale is in the German part of  Switzerland city, and like «going home». I had first been to the Foundation Beyeler with my Mother in 2004 to see Francis Bacon-  it didn’t seem to be so long ago. However, my introduction to Max Ernst - again with my Mother was in Baden-Baden in 1989. She was by then a smitten collagist and Ernst had an incredible influence on her work. I can still hear her saying as we stood in front of this work, «you know he re