The Fotostiftung Schweiz's collection consists of original prints in exhibition quality. They originate partly form estates administrated by the Fotostiftung (see Archives - Estates), and partly from groups of work by other photographers. A focal point of the collection is Swiss photography from the 1930s to 1950s. This is supplemented by international photography, for example a series of photograms from the 1920s by László Moholy-Nagy (donation in memoriam of S. and C. Giedion Welcker), unique photographic documents of the Warsaw ghetto by Roman Vishniac, a large body of original prints by Lucien Clergue from the 1950s (donation Elisabeth Hössli), or the Martin Lehner Collection with over 700 mostly experimental photographs of the 1980s and 1990s. The collection also comprises various deposits from the Swiss Confederation, consisting on the one hand of substantial purchases (for example photographs by Robert Frank from the Werner Zryd collection, and an extensive group of works by Christian Staub), on the other of work by recipients of Federal Awards of Design, which has been consistently collected since 1986. An important counterpart to the Swiss part of the collection consists of permanent loans from the Friends of the Fotostiftung Schweiz including a constantly increasing number of international historical masterpieces by photographers such as Bill Brandt, André Kertész, Walker Evans and Paul Strand.
The collection administrated by the Fotostiftung Schweiz includes original photographs by Abbott, Alvarez-Bravo, von Arb, Atget, Baldus, Bauer, Bezzola, Bischof, Blum, Blumenfeld, Boissonas, Brandt, Brassaï, Breslauer, Burckhardt, Burri, Capa, Carjat, Cartier, Cartier-Bresson, Chessex, Clergue, Donetta, Durieux, Eidenbenz, Erdt, Evans, Faure, Fehr, Finsler, Fischer, Frank, Frey, Frith, Fuhrmann, Garduño, Gerster, Giacomelli, Gibson, Gnant, Groebli, Heiniger, Hine, Imsand, Iselin, Isenring, Iuncker, Kertész, Kern, Klein, Korda, Koudelka, Lang, Lange, Lartigue, Läubli, Lichtsteiner, Lissitzky, List, Manon, Man Ray, von Matt, Mayer, Mischol, Moholy-Nagy, Mohr, Montavon, Mulas, Nadar, Pedroli, Renger-Patzsch, Rodtschenko, Roh, Ruppen, Sager, Salgado, Salomon, Sander, Scheidegger, Schneider, Schulthess, Schwartz, Senn, Signorell, Siskind, Spinatsch, Stankowski, Staub, Steichen, Steinert, Stieglitz, Taeschler, Tuggener, Underwood & Underwood, Vicari, Vishniac, Vogt, Wicky, Winogrand, Zanetti.