In the birthplace of Art Basel, a museum located on the Swiss border always attracts art enthusiasts from around the globe. The Fondation Beyeler is hailed as one of the most beautiful museums in the world, designed by the renowned architect Renzo Piano, nestled within carefully crafted English garden. Beneath its serene facade, the Beyeler Collection is valued at nearly $2 billion.

In the final week before leaving Switzerland, the author traveled to Basel to interview Sam Keller, the director of the Fondation Beyeler. As the galleries were closed, staff were bustling about preparing for the upcoming Hopper exhibition. I sat in the foundation's garden awaiting Sam, with neatly trimmed gardens and the edge of the forest in the distance enveloping Piano's architecture.

Sam is a witty and relaxed person. Before the formal interview began, he insisted on introducing a painting hanging in the foyer — a Rousseau painting with an incredibly long name. It wasn't until later that I realized: Sam felt sorry for the temporary close of the museum, and explaining the artwork was his way of making amends.

We walked through the museum being set up, paintings printed on large sheets of paper, workers busy painting the walls. The view outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was unreal, with rolling emerald hills and children riding bikes in the distance. Sam was unreservedly open to all my questions, firm in his belief in the mission of the Fondation Beyeler. From his demeanor, I saw the face of someone passionate about his work. His sincerity infected me, to the point where the interview quickly deviated from its intended scope into an improvisational conversation, until the staff reminded Sam that he needed to hurry to his next appointment.

After the interview, I stayed by the riverbank in downtown Basel to watch the sunset, the city frozen in some historical moment, with the glow of lamps in the blacksmith's shop window and the local tailor busy organizing her patterns. At that moment, any grandiloquence seemed out of place; people were just living, and that was all.