On display André Derain Forêt en Île-de-France (Sous-bois) (Forest in Ile-de-France, undergrowth), c. 1946-1948 While Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso left Cubism behind and moved on to a "new synthesis", André Derain turned increasingly to a restrictive form of…
Ernest Biéler Portrait de Nathalie Biéler, sœur de l'artiste (Portrait of the artist's sister Nathalie Biéler), 1885 Ernest Biéler moved from his native Switzerland to Paris in 1880 to study at the Atelier suisse, the Académie Colarossi and the Académie Julian. In…
Horace Vernet Première messe en Kabylie (First mass in Kabylia), 1854 Horace Vernet first travelled to Algeria following the French army on its conquest of North Africa. His first of many visits to the country came…
Auguste Renoir Coco. Portrait de Claude Renoir (Coco. Portrait of Claude Renoir), 1908 Auguste Renoir called on friends and family to sit for him throughout his career. In the early years, this was a purely economic decision, avoiding…
Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen Masséida et le singe Gaspard (Masséida and the monkey Gaspard), after 1911 In 1911, Jean-Louis Forain introduced Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen to Masséida, a young woman of Bambara ethnicity well known in art circles. She regularly posed for artists,…
Charles Gleyre Portrait de Madame Arsène Houssaye (Portrait of Mrs. Arsène Houssaye), c. 1845 - 1850 Back in Paris in 1838 after a lengthy absence, Charles Gleyre set about rebuilding his professional network. To do so, he called on longstanding friends,…
Giovanni Giacometti Portrait d'Alberto (Portrait of Alberto), 1921 In 1921, Giovanni Giacometti painted four portraits of his beloved son Alberto, later to become one of the twentieth century's greatest sculptors. He may have…
Gustave Courbet La Vigneronne de Montreux (Grape picker, Montreux), 1874 Gustave Courbet's time in exile in La Tour-de-Peilz inspired him mainly landscape paintings. He did not turn his back on the human figure completely, however,…
Auguste Veillon Un soir à Brunnen (Brunnen, Evening), 1867 Auguste Veillon abandoned his theology studies in Lausanne to attend François Diday's art studio in Geneva. He then travelled to Paris to study on his…
Edgar Degas Portrait d'homme, d’après Maurice Quentin de La Tour (Portrait of a man, after Quentin de La Tour), c. 1868-1870 This copy of a 1760 work by Maurice Quentin de La Tour now in the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris reflects the late-nineteenth-century popularity of eighteenth-century…
François Bocion Venice, 1882 François Bocion first visited Venice in the summer of 1874. Having honed his talent on and around Lake Geneva, he now hoped travel would give…
Edouard-Marcel Sandoz Chien danois (Great Dane), 1911 Édouard Sandoz studied at the École des arts industriels in Geneva before moving to Paris in January 1904. There, he took private classes with the…
On display Auguste Rodin Bust of Victor Hugo, c. 1883-1884 The journalist and art critic Edmond Bazire paid Auguste Rodin a visit late in the autumn of 1882. Rodin confided he was still wounded by…
On display Constantin Meunier Le Débardeur (The Stevedore), 1893 This is one of Constantin Meunier's best-known works, initially designed as part of a Monument to Labour that was never completed. Meunier worked from life…
Émile-Antoine Bourdelle Vierge à l’offrande (Virgin of the Offering), 1920 In 1914, war broke out between France and Germany, with Alsace and Lorraine in the thick of the fighting. The industrialist Joseph Vogt, mayor of…
Ernest Biéler Retour du baptême (Returning from the baptism), 1907 European genre painting began to develop a taste for what might be termed "local exoticism" in around 1830, a trend that culminated at the turn…
On display Ernest Biéler Portrait d'Édouard Rod (Portrait of Édouard Rod), 1909 At the time this work was painted in 1909, Édouard Rod, a native of the Vaud, was a leading figure in the Swiss community in…
Jules Desbois Salomé, c. 1912 Jules Desbois showed an interest in subjects from Antiquity early in his career, presenting at the 1875 Salon a prize-winning Orpheus that was subsequently acquired…
Carl Milles Triton, 1925-1930 Carl Milles was a towering figure in Swedish sculpture in the first half of the twentieth century. His early politically committed style eventually turned more…
Alice Bailly Portrait d'Arthur Honegger au « Roi David » (Portrait of Arthur Honegger at "King David"), 1921-1922 The sonorous, clashing rhythms and strident colours which fill Alice Bailly's work reflect the crucial role music played in her understanding of the world around…
Francis Baudevin Untitled, 2003 Francis Baudevin creates paintings, wall paintings, and prints following a process he settled on in 1987. He seeks out abstract forms in the visual realm…
Auguste Renoir Paysage, le lac (Landscape, the lake), c. 1890 In the early 1860s, landscape painting was a way for Auguste Renoir, then a fledgling artist, to paint out in the open air. He would…
Félix Vallotton Quatre torses (Four Torsos), 1916 Félix Vallotton was too old to join up in the First World War, choosing instead to explore a burning question for all artists of the…
Félix Labisse Portrait de Jean-Louis Barrault (Portrait of Jean-Louis Barrault), 1947 In 1940, André Gide sat down to re-read Kafka's 1925 novel The Trial, recounting the arrest of Josef K., a bank clerk caught up in…
Félix Vallotton Les Charbonnières, 1889 Félix Vallotton, who had been living in Paris since 1882, underwent a crisis in the late 1880s that saw him sink into depression. He faced…
Albert Anker Le secrétaire de commune (The Commune Secretary), 1875 Here, Albert Anker paints a pivotal administrative figure in every Swiss commune. In nineteenth-century Switzerland, the commune secretary held considerable power thanks to his legal…
Félix Vallotton Le palmier, Cagnes (Palm Tree, Cagnes), 1920 Félix Vallotton arrived in Cagnes on November 24, 1920. This painting, dating from early December, is one of the first he completed during his visit.…
