Artists’ stories

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

The storm we watch from dry ground

The Storm at the Handeck helped make Calame known across Europe. This monumental landscape promises an encounter with the mountains, but its intensity is constructed in the studio: a painted tempest offered to an audience safely in the dry.

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

Dutch light on Lake Brienz

Calame's Lake Brienz owes something to a journey far from the Alps. After studying the Dutch masters, the painter returns to the Swiss landscape with different tools for guiding light between trees and water.

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François Bocion — Bord du lac à Rivaz — Image creditsFrançois Bocion · Bord du lac à Rivaz · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
François Bocion — « Bord du lac à Rivaz ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
François Bocion · Bord du lac à Rivaz · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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François Bocion · 5 min read

The stones of a lake too calm

Saint-Saphorin seems to offer a perfectly tranquil Lake Geneva. Yet a preparatory study and a critic's comment reveal Bocion's studio work, organising stones, birds and distances to give life to the foreground.

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François Bocion — Lavandières à San Remo — Image creditsFrançois Bocion · Lavandières à San Remo · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Paradise Chronicle
François Bocion — « Lavandières à San Remo ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
François Bocion · Lavandières à San Remo · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Paradise Chronicle
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François Bocion · 5 min read

Venice, despite the unsold paintings

Bocion's first views of Venice do not sell as he had hoped. Yet he returns to the lagoon, then composes a large canvas in Lausanne. The journey continues through sketches, boats and a horizon that proves difficult to organise.

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François Bocion — Pêcheur à la ligne — Image creditsFrançois Bocion · Pêcheur à la ligne · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Paradise Chronicle
François Bocion — « Pêcheur à la ligne ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
François Bocion · Pêcheur à la ligne · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Paradise Chronicle
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François Bocion · 5 min read

The net that holds the gaze

In Nets and Fishermen, Lake Geneva appears behind a curtain of mesh. Bocion turns rest and the upkeep of equipment into a painting of shade and light, attentive to the daily rhythm of the shores.

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François Bocion — Bocion et sa famille à la pêche — Image creditsFrançois Bocion · Bocion et sa famille à la pêche · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Paradise Chronicle
François Bocion — « Bocion et sa famille à la pêche ».
François Bocion · Bocion et sa famille à la pêche · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Paradise Chronicle
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François Bocion · 5 min read

The painter who steps into his own boat

In 1877, François Bocion joins a family outing on Lake Geneva. This small panel brings together landscape, boating and self-portraiture, inviting viewers to find their place almost at water level.

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François Bocion — Lac et pêcheurs — Image creditsFrançois Bocion · Lac et pêcheurs · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Paradise Chronicle
François Bocion — « Lac et pêcheurs ».
François Bocion · Lac et pêcheurs · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Paradise Chronicle
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François Bocion · 5 min read

When the lake takes first place

In 1885, Bocion keeps the boats, nets and fishermen but gives them less space. A small elongated canvas tells of this shift: on Lake Geneva's French shore, light becomes the true thread guiding the eye.

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Ernest Biéler — Les Sources — Image creditsErnest Biéler · Les Sources · Wikimedia Commons · public domain (CH/EU life+70)
Ernest Biéler — « Les Sources ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
Ernest Biéler · Les Sources · Wikimedia Commons · public domain (CH/EU life+70)
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Ernest Biéler · 4 min read

Ernest Biéler: the painting acquired before his Paris exhibitions

Acquired for the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne in 1886, a painting more than three metres wide remains temporarily with Ernest Biéler so that it can be shown at the 1887 Salon de Paris and then at the 1889 Exposition Universelle.

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Ferdinand Hodler — Le Hallebardier — Image creditsFerdinand Hodler · Le Hallebardier · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Ferdinand Hodler — « Le Hallebardier ». Another work by the artist, chosen as a visual connection to the story.
Ferdinand Hodler · Le Hallebardier · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
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Ferdinand Hodler · 2 min read

Ferdinand Hodler: the warrior on the 1917 Zurich exhibition poster

From 14 June to 5 August 1917, the Kunsthaus Zurich presented the largest exhibition devoted to Ferdinand Hodler up to that time. The artist designed the poster, dominated by a kneeling Swiss warrior. Any association between this figure and the controversy surrounding The Retreat from Marignano, however, is a matter of interpretation, not of documented intent.

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Alice Bailly — Rade de Genève ou Vol de mouettes — Image creditsAlice Bailly · MCBA, Lausanne · Photo Paradise Chronicle / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Alice Bailly — « Rade de Genève ou Vol de mouettes ».
Alice Bailly · MCBA, Lausanne · Photo Paradise Chronicle / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Alice Bailly · 5 min read

Alice Bailly: when war closes off Paris and sets the roadstead in motion

Stranded in Switzerland by the war of 1914, Alice Bailly loses access to her supporters in Paris. Yet with Rade de Genève ou Vol de mouettes, she transforms this enforced return into a pictorial manifesto.

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Image creditsHans Erni · Swiss Art Gallery · Photographie de la galerie · Format WebP, dimensions réduites
Hans Erni, Badende (Bathers), a work shown by the gallery. An example of his figurative language.
Hans Erni · Swiss Art Gallery · Photographie de la galerie · Format WebP, dimensions réduites
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Hans Erni · 3 min read

Hans Erni: an avant-garde exhibition before the break

In the spring of 1935, Hans Erni conceived the international exhibition “These, Antithese, Synthese” in Lucerne, devoted to abstraction and Surrealism. Acclaimed by specialists but attracting little public interest, the exhibition took place shortly before his break with the avant-garde and his rapid return to figurative art.

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Sophie Taeuber-Arp — Le roi Deramo, marionnette du Roi Cerf — Image creditsSophie Taeuber-Arp ; photo : Danielle Jansen — CC BY-SA 4.0 (redimensionnement et conversion WebP).
Sophie Taeuber-Arp — « Le roi Deramo, marionnette du Roi Cerf ».
Sophie Taeuber-Arp ; photo : Danielle Jansen — CC BY-SA 4.0 (redimensionnement et conversion WebP).
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Sophie Taeuber-Arp · 4 min read

Sophie Taeuber-Arp: the three performances of King Stag

In September 1918, Sophie Taeuber-Arp transformed an Italian fairy play into geometric theatre. Her seventeen marionettes delighted circles close to Dada, but the management’s scepticism and the Spanish flu limited the play to three performances.

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