Ernst Beyeler was born on 16 July 1921 in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland. He was married to Hildy Kunz. He died on 25 February 2010 in Riehen, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland.
In 1982, he and his wife founded the Beyeler Foundation and commissioned Renzo Piano to design a museum to hold their private collection in Riehen, Switzerland with 220 pieces including Western artists with Impressionism and postwar American paintings and 40 pieces of African and Oceanic art. The Beyeler Museum has 19 galleries with a room for the Picasso pieces and another room for Giacometti pieces.
