Bernd & Hilla Becher - History of a Method | MAST

From April 23 to September 27, 2026, Fondazione MAST presents Bernd & Hilla Becher. History of a Method, a major retrospective dedicated to the German artist duo (1931–2007; 1934–2015), central figures in the history of 20th-century photography.

Through the development of a visual language based on rigorous methodological systematization, the Bechers have exerted an influence that remains clearly recognizable in contemporary photography.

Curated by Gabriele Conrath-Scholl, Max Becher, and Urs Stahel, the exhibition presents for the first time in Europe the richness and thematic breadth of the artists’ work.

In the MAST Galleries, more than 350 original black-and-white photographs are on display, alongside a large body of supplementary materials, including drawings, books, and posters, which help convey the complexity and coherence of their working method. Bernd & Hilla Becher. History of a Method offers visitors the opportunity to retrace the evolution of an artistic research that redefined the standards of photography, influencing generations of artists and contributing decisively to the construction of a new visual paradigm.

Around 1960, alongside the decline of industrial photography and major shifts in the global economy, Bernd & Hilla Becher began creating their renowned photographic series based on typologies, presented in blocks or grids of images. Mines, winding towers, water towers and cooling towers, gas holders, coal bunkers, blast furnaces, and grain silos became the subjects of a systematic and rigorous investigation.

The exhibition path in the MAST Galleries:

The exhibition History of a Method is structured into 10 sections, which explore in depth the themes and methods underlying the Bechers’ work.

• Industrial Landscapes
  This opening section presents views of functional buildings and industrial structures. The images—blast furnaces, lime kilns, mines, and gravel pits—taken between 1962 and 1999 in various countries, offer a significant overview of this aspect of their production.
• Industrial Plants: the Ewald Fortsetzung coal mine
  A focus on the Ewald Fortsetzung coal mine in Recklinghausen, in the Ruhr region. The photographs (1982–1985) provide a panoramic view of the mining area through different groups of images, showing various aspects of industrial architecture from multiple perspectives.
• One object, different viewpoints (Developments)
  Groups of photographs based on the systematic juxtaposition of the same subject captured from different angles, allowing for a comprehensive observation of its structure.
• Typologies
  Groups of images (from 9 to 24) arranged in grids, resulting from a comparative analysis of industrial building forms. The exhibition includes typologies from the 1960s to the early 2000s.
• Houses
  From 1968 onward, the Bechers documented workers’ and employees’ housing in the industrial regions of the Ruhr and Rhineland, designed in the post-war period to address the housing crisis.
• Half-timbered houses: different modes of representation
  The same house is presented through a single image, a photographic sequence, and a typology, highlighting different levels of interpretation.
• Anonymous Sculptures
  A selection of images from the project Anonyme Skulpturen (1970), which was crucial for the Bechers’ recognition within minimalist and conceptual art.
• Publications and printed materials
  Documentation of their editorial activity through books, invitations, and posters, in collaboration with the publisher Schirmer/Mosel.
• Bernd Becher: early works
  Drawings and early photographs showing the transition from graphic design to photography.
• Hilla Becher: early works
  Her training and photographic experimentation from the 1960s.

The exhibition is conceived by Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne in cooperation with the Bernd & Hilla Becher Studio, Düsseldorf, and is organized by Fondazione MAST.

The works come from the Bernd und Hilla Becher Archive, preserved at Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur in Cologne, and from the Bernd & Hilla Becher Studio in Düsseldorf, with the support of Max Becher and under the supervision of the Estate Bernd & Hilla Becher.