Paris, à nous deux !
Artistes de la collection à l’assaut de la capitale

In the spring of 2015, the Museum of Fine Arts dedicated an exhibition to showcasing major pieces from its collection, in dialogue with works loaned by public institutions and private collectors. Paris, à nous deux! traced the relationships that Swiss artists from French-speaking Switzerland maintained with the French capital from the 19th century to the mid-20th century.

Paris was where painters and sculptors from the provinces completed their academic training. It was in the capital of the arts that they established their reputations by exhibiting works at the official Salon, at World’s Fairs, and, from the turn of the 19th century, at the new Salons (the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon d’Automne) and in galleries. Some chose to settle temporarily or permanently in the metropolis, becoming keen observers of its life. The devastation of the Great War, crowds and individuals, fashion, interior scenes, performances, and urban views caught their scrutinizing eyes and fired their imaginations.

Featuring works by Jacques and François Sablet, Charles Gleyre, François Bocion, Ernest Biéler, Eugène Burnand, Louise Breslau, Félix Vallotton, Alice Bailly, Marius Borgeaud, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Eugène Grasset, René Auberjonois, Gustave Buchet.