Artists’ stories

Émile Chambon — Barrage de Carouge — Image creditsÉmile Chambon · Barrage de Carouge · Image : Piguet Hôtel des Ventes
Émile Chambon — « Barrage de Carouge ». A work by the artist, selected for its visual connection to the story.
Émile Chambon · Barrage de Carouge · Image : Piguet Hôtel des Ventes
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Émile Chambon · 5 min read

Water, gas and electricity enter painting

In 1943 Émile Chambon devotes a large panel to everyday services. Its destination at the Verbois plant proposes an encounter between artistic representation and infrastructure.

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Jules Breton — À la fontaine — Image creditsJules Breton · À la fontaine · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Jules Breton — « À la fontaine ».
Jules Breton · À la fontaine · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Jules Breton · 5 min read

At the Fountain, a painting travels between exhibitions

At the Fountain, painted in 1892, belongs to the museum in Quimper. Its entry gathers stages showing how a work with a Breton subject can enter very different exhibition narratives.

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Jules Breton — À travers champs — Image creditsJules Breton · À travers champs · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Jules Breton — « À travers champs ».
Jules Breton · À travers champs · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Jules Breton · 5 min read

Two titles cross at the end of the work

Jules Breton’s catalogue documents an old confusion between Across the Fields and The End of the Working Day. Following the titles reveals a creative process made of revisions, decisions and written traces.

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Jules Breton — Le Chant de l’alouette — Image creditsJules Breton · Le Chant de l’alouette · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Jules Breton — « Le Chant de l’alouette ».
Jules Breton · Le Chant de l’alouette · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Jules Breton · 5 min read

The song crosses the Atlantic without making a sound

The Song of the Lark, painted in 1884, carries a sound in its title and a journey in its provenance. This meeting between the image’s silence and the painting’s circulation leads from Courrières to Chicago.

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Ferdinand Hodler — Femme morte sur son lit de mort — Image creditsFerdinand Hodler · Femme morte sur son lit de mort · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Paradise Chronicle
Ferdinand Hodler — « Femme morte sur son lit de mort ».
Ferdinand Hodler · Femme morte sur son lit de mort · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Paradise Chronicle
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Ferdinand Hodler · 4 min read

The day after Valentine

In January 1915, Hodler paints Valentine Godé-Darel after her death. In Solothurn, a canvas from the cycle preserves an unflinching presence, where precision of looking compels us to encounter a person before seeking a symbol.

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Jules Breton — Les Glaneuses — Image creditsJules Breton · Les Glaneuses · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 · Sailko
Jules Breton — « Les Glaneuses ».
Jules Breton · Les Glaneuses · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 · Sailko
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Jules Breton · 5 min read

The future wife enters the fields

Les Glaneuses of 1854 contains a precise biographical link: Élodie de Vigne, Jules Breton’s future wife, models for one figure. This information brings the painting closer to his life without turning its characters into private memories.

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Jules Breton — Le Rappel des glaneuses — Image creditsJules Breton · Le Rappel des glaneuses · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Jules Breton — « Le Rappel des glaneuses ».
Jules Breton · Le Rappel des glaneuses · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Jules Breton · 5 min read

The signal that brings a day of gleaning to a close

In Le Rappel des glaneuses, Jules Breton chooses departure rather than work. The painting turns a collective signal into a succession of individual presences, before leaving the fields itself for an imperial and then a public collection.

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Jules Breton — Le Soir — Image creditsJules Breton · Le Soir · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Jules Breton — « Le Soir ».
Jules Breton · Le Soir · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Jules Breton · 5 min read

Le Soir spends seventy-six years in a town hall

Painted in 1860 and acquired the following year, Le Soir has a surprising institutional life. Its long loan to Cuisery reminds us that a painting in a national collection can be encountered far from the museum with which we associate its name today.

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Jules Breton — Jeune paysanne tricotant — Image creditsJules Breton · Jeune paysanne tricotant · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Jules Breton — « Jeune paysanne tricotant ».
Jules Breton · Jeune paysanne tricotant · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Jules Breton · 5 min read

Knitting keeps a different rhythm

A young peasant woman knits in a canvas by Jules Breton dated around 1870. The Metropolitan’s small painting gives a modest task a duration of attention beyond its apparent simplicity.

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Jules Breton — Les Sarcleuses — Image creditsJules Breton · Les Sarcleuses · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Jules Breton — « Les Sarcleuses ».
Jules Breton · Les Sarcleuses · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Jules Breton · 5 min read

The weeds return eight years later

The Metropolitan Museum’s weeders revisit an earlier composition in 1868. Between two paintings, a farming task becomes a subject the painter can return to, reduce in scale and circulate differently.

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Jules Breton — La Bénédiction des blés en Artois — Image creditsJules Breton · La Bénédiction des blés en Artois · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Jules Breton — « La Bénédiction des blés en Artois ».
Jules Breton · La Bénédiction des blés en Artois · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Jules Breton · 5 min read

Three metres of countryside for a procession

The Blessing of the Wheat in Artois paints a collective rite. Its very wide format invites reflection on the presence of a community in an image, without reducing that community to a pleasant landscape.

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Jules Breton — La Glaneuse lasse — Image creditsJules Breton · La Glaneuse lasse · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Jules Breton — « La Glaneuse lasse ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
Jules Breton · La Glaneuse lasse · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Jules Breton · 5 min read

A gleaner on a monumental scale

With The Gleaner of 1877, Jules Breton gives a peasant figure an imposing format. The painting’s dimensions invite us to consider what scale changes in our encounter with a familiar subject.

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