Illusions perdues

Félix Vallotton (1865-1925) was one of the most important figures of French modernism at the turn of the 20th century. 2025 marks a double anniversary: the 100th anniversary of the artist's death and his 160th birthday. Over 150 works from all creative phases, genres and techniques will be on display at two locations, including numerous major works such as the iconic La blanche et la noire.

The exhibition title Illusions perdues is taken from the title of one of the most famous French books of the 19th century - the three-part work by Honoré de Balzac, who saw it as part of his comprehensive Comédie humaine. Vallotton's art is also a precisely observed and razor-sharp critical portrayal of society. This initially manifested itself in his woodcuts and was later repeatedly reflected in his paintings. In addition, Vallotton's style is one of the representatives of a verism whose classical honesty sets it apart from Impressionist painting, in much the same way that Balzac's realism contributed to overcoming rapturous Romanticism.

In terms of content, the show is based on the Lost Illusions. Illusion is a fundamental theme of painting, which has always pursued the goal of faking reality. However, Vallotton's Nabis friend Maurice Denis expressed more clearly than anyone else that this was increasingly lost in the age of modernism when he wrote: "It should be remembered that a painting, before it is a warhorse, a naked woman or some anecdote, is essentially an ordinary surface covered with colors arranged in a certain way." At the end of the 19th century, this was an outrageous statement and it makes it clear: with the loss of illusion, we have definitely arrived in the modern age.

The exhibition at the Kunst Museum Winterthur is part of the 2025 | Année Vallotton, with which cultural institutions, including the Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts Lausanne and the Fondation Félix Vallotton, are celebrating the artist throughout Switzerland with numerous exhibitions, publications and events.

Curated by Andrea Lutz and David Schmidhauser


Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.