Exhibition Lausanne celebrates its famous scion Félix Vallotton
"Vallotton Forever" is the title of the major retrospective of the famous Swiss artist's work at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne. It is the highlight of several exhibitions in the 100th anniversary year of the painter's death.
22.10.2025, 14:30
22.10.2025, 14:31
SDA
When we think of the oeuvre of Félix Vallotton (1865-1925), we quickly think of his paintings of women and, in this context, of course, his famous nudes. First and foremost the painting "La Blanche et la Noire" from 1913, in which he transferred no less famous masterpieces by Ingres and Manet into a new, enlightened era: Vallotton turned the black slave or maid into the mistress of the white woman lying naked on the bed.
The loan from the collection of the Kunst Museum Winterthur is one of over 250 paintings, drawings and prints on display at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne - in the largest retrospective ever devoted to Vallotton, according to the museum.
In addition to his famous nudes, the exhibition includes his portraits, landscape and interior paintings, still lifes and history paintings, which are actually traditional genres, but which he developed and consolidated in his own style.
A brilliant technician
Vallotton stood out above all as a brilliant technician and less as an avant-gardist. Although he belonged to the rebellious post-impressionist group the Nabis from 1893, he increasingly concentrated on artistic dialog with the masters of the past and, accordingly, with symbolist and realist painting. From 1905 until his death, he worked far away from all modernist tendencies.
In addition to the retrospective "Vallotton Forever", the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts is taking an in-depth look at the artist's working methods in a parallel exhibition entitled "Vallotton in the Studio". Other Swiss museums, such as the Kunst Museum Winterthur and the Musée Jenisch Vevey, have already used the 100th anniversary of his death as an opportunity to pay tribute to the artist. "Vallotton Forever" can be seen in Lausanne from October 24 to February 15.
