Artists’ stories

Ernest Biéler — Portrait de Violette Scholder — Image creditsErnest Biéler · Portrait de Violette Scholder · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Ernest Bieler
Ernest Biéler — « Portrait de Violette Scholder ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
Ernest Biéler · Portrait de Violette Scholder · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Ernest Bieler
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Ernest Biéler · 5 min read

The woman in blue also had a pen

In Biéler's 1913 portrait, Michelle appears among flowers. She is also a drawing teacher and author of a text defending her husband's art: an intellectual voice behind an image that became famous.

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Ernest Biéler — Portrait de Nathalie Biéler — Image creditsErnest Biéler · Portrait de Nathalie Biéler · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Ernest Bieler
Ernest Biéler — « Portrait de Nathalie Biéler ».
Ernest Biéler · Portrait de Nathalie Biéler · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Ernest Bieler
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Ernest Biéler · 5 min read

The memory of Manet beneath a parasol

In 1884, Biéler discovers the Manet retrospective in Paris. The following summer, he draws his sister Nathalie in Lausanne. A parasol, an armchair and a pale dress tell how an artistic encounter can continue within a family portrait.

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Ferdinand Hodler — Le Bûcheron — Image creditsFerdinand Hodler · Le Bûcheron · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Fernidand Hodler (1853 - 1918) – Painter (Swiss) Details on Google Art Project
Ferdinand Hodler — « Le Bûcheron ».
Ferdinand Hodler · Le Bûcheron · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Fernidand Hodler (1853 - 1918) – Painter (Swiss) Details on Google Art Project
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Ferdinand Hodler · 5 min read

The Woodcutter leaves the wallet

Designed for a fifty-franc note, The Woodcutter gains a different breadth on canvas. Between official commission, changes of format and replicas, Hodler turns a working gesture into a monumental presence.

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Ferdinand Hodler — Le lac Léman vu de Chexbres — Image creditsFerdinand Hodler · Le lac Léman vu de Chexbres · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Ferdinand Hodler — « Le lac Léman vu de Chexbres ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
Ferdinand Hodler · Le lac Léman vu de Chexbres · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Ferdinand Hodler · 5 min read

Fifteen days to give Lake Geneva a rhythm

In spring 1904, Hodler stays in Chexbres after his success in Vienna. Before a familiar panorama, he begins a series in which the lake becomes a vast coloured form, immediately welcomed into a public collection.

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François Diday — Rivière, arbres, pont et chèvres — Image creditsFrançois Diday · Rivière, arbres, pont et chèvres · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
François Diday — « Rivière, arbres, pont et chèvres ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
François Diday · Rivière, arbres, pont et chèvres · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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François Diday · 5 min read

The fallen tree the painter wanted to keep

A small Uprooted Tree, now attributed to Diday, recalls the value the painter placed on his studies from nature. Roots and stumps open a closer encounter with landscape, beyond its monumental aspect alone.

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François Diday — Rosenlaui — Image creditsFrançois Diday · Rosenlaui · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
François Diday — « Rosenlaui ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
François Diday · Rosenlaui · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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François Diday · 5 min read

A glacier reserved for Lausanne

In 1841, Diday shows a Bernese Oberland glacier in Paris. The canton of Vaud reserves this large canvas for its museum. A Swiss landscape thus makes a public journey from the Salon's stage to Lausanne's viewers.

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Louis Ducros — Vue du Panthéon — Image creditsLouis Ducros · Vue du Panthéon · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros (Moudon, 1748 - Lausanne, 1810), Swiss engraver and watercolourist
Louis Ducros — « Vue du Panthéon ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
Louis Ducros · Vue du Panthéon · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros (Moudon, 1748 - Lausanne, 1810), Swiss engraver and watercolourist
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Louis Ducros · 5 min read

The print that survived a falling-out

In Rome, Ducros and Jacques Sablet combine their talents for scenes of daily life. The Fried-Food Seller belongs to this enterprise, which ends in a falling-out. Yet the small print preserves their shared work.

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Louis Ducros — Ruines de la basilique de Maxence, Forum romain — Image creditsLouis Ducros · Ruines de la basilique de Maxence, Forum romain · Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros
Louis Ducros — « Ruines de la basilique de Maxence, Forum romain ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
Louis Ducros · Ruines de la basilique de Maxence, Forum romain · Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros
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Louis Ducros · 5 min read

A watercolour large enough to become a painting

For The Arch of Titus, Ducros pastes several sheets onto a canvas and gives watercolour an unusual scale. The Roman view later joins the holdings purchased by Vaud, contributing to the origins of Lausanne's museum.

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Albert Anker — La reine Berthe et les fileuses — Image creditsAlbert Anker · La reine Berthe et les fileuses · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Albert Anker — « La reine Berthe et les fileuses ».
Albert Anker · La reine Berthe et les fileuses · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Albert Anker · 5 min read

How a sceptre became a distaff

Anker's Queen Bertha teaches spinning, but this famous image belongs to a long construction of memory. Behind the distaff lies an earlier reinterpretation of a sceptre; in front of the painting, a public subscription extends the legend's power.

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Albert Anker — Le secrétaire de commune — Image creditsAlbert Anker · Le secrétaire de commune · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Albert Anker — « Le secrétaire de commune ».
Albert Anker · Le secrétaire de commune · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Albert Anker · 5 min read

The pen between his teeth, then on a gold coin

Anker's municipal clerk has left his desk several times: in a painted repetition, printed reproduction, stamp and coin. Yet his success rests on a very simple detail, a pen held between his teeth while he reads.

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Albert Anker — Le Baptême — Image creditsAlbert Anker · Le Baptême · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Albert Anker — « Le Baptême ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
Albert Anker · Le Baptême · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Albert Anker · 5 min read

One cradle, four ways of drawing near

In The Newborn, Anker tells of a child's arrival through the gestures of those around it. From Paris to Lausanne, the painting also becomes a model for painters: an intimate story offered to a collective gaze.

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Alexandre Calame — Torrent de montagne — Image creditsAlexandre Calame · Torrent de montagne · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Alexandre Calame — « Torrent de montagne ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
Alexandre Calame · Torrent de montagne · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Alexandre Calame · 5 min read

The drowning man the paint had hidden

A torrent by Calame seemed to contain only a landscape and a few figures on the bank. Research by the Valais Art Museum restored the scene's meaning: a man swept away by the water had been painted over after 1932.

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