"Simply wonderfully colourful"

Normally we, usually half a dozen people from as many countries, sit together in the language café of the Buchegg Community Centre and practise speaking to each other more or less fluently in German. This time we are out and about, having arranged to visit the collection on a free Wednesday at the Kunsthaus. Five women come. They are almost always women who visit the language café.

Juli from Spain especially loves the flower paintings and can't do anything with the modern works. The only exception are the large paintings by Willem de Kooning, because his pictures are "just wonderfully colourful".

She is not alone in her preference for the colours and less interest in the motifs. Lauren, an African-American from Southern California, shows me on her mobile phone "an African godess" with piled-up hair, multicoloured dress and golden decorations, and also, with shining eyes, the drawings of her little daughter that hang everywhere in her flat.

Carlotta is overwhelmed by the great diversity of the collections in the new wing, but is also happy about the exchange with the others, talks far more than in the language café, asks why there are so few works by women, in her home country Mexico, Frieda Kahlo is particularly revered, besides Diego Riviera.

Sonja from Uruguay especially likes the power of the expressionist pictures. She definitely wants to come back, but only to visit one exhibition rather than three. "So many beautiful things," she comments enthusiastically.

The shy Ayda Rida with the headscarf comes from Lebanon. She grew up in the village, studied economics in Beirut, and has lived in Zurich for many years with her husband and six children. There are no museums like the Kunsthaus in her home country, but instead ceramics and statues from Phoenician and Roman times, which is why she attentively looks at dozens of bowls, pots and objects designed by a contemporary artist.

Darcia, a Roman, stands for a long time in front of a painting by van Gogh in which two peasant women are bent over working their field. The women come together and each sees something different: Sonja admires the colours, Juli the palpably religious mood, Darcia the calmness of the painting despite the heavy application of paint, Ayda sees above all the hard work of the field workers.

And at the end, a highlight of the visit: the installation by Pippilotti Rist, immersed in changing colours, which everyone, especially Lauren, is totally enthralled by.

Visiting with a group is simply enriching because other people have different perspectives. If you fancy this kind of encounter, you should try meetup.com. There you will find various offers for joint visits to museums and exhibitions.