Henri van Muyden
Born in 1860.
Died in 1936.
Henri van Muyden (1860–1936), also known as Henry, was a Geneva painter, draughtsman and illustrator. His landscapes and figure paintings were accompanied by graphic work documented in several Swiss collections.
After a banking apprenticeship in Liverpool, he studied at the Académie Julian and with Barthélemy Menn and Jean-Paul Laurens. He won first prize in the Calame competition in 1893 and also contributed to satirical periodicals.
His rural scenes and Valais landscapes connect him with the Savièse school. The Banque cantonale du Valais collection holds Repos champêtre au couchant, where agricultural life and the evening light unfold against an expansive mountain setting.
The Valais Art Museum holds Mass at La Sage, painted around 1919, which depicts an outdoor service. Its curatorial account connects the scene with the influenza epidemic of 1918–1919: a specific historical circumstance lies behind its apparent serenity.
The Swiss Museum of Transport also records his watercolours about the life of Louis Favre. This documentary aspect offers another approach to an artist whose work extends beyond Alpine landscape painting.
