
Charles Gleyre
Le génie de l’invention
In 2006, the Museum of Fine Arts, Lausanne, presented an exceptional retrospective of the works of Charles Gleyre (1806-1874), the talented academic painter.
On the occasion of the bicentenary of his birth, the exhibition revealed the career of this Swiss artist who played a major role in French art history of the 19th century. More than 200 works were on view, including a series of monumental paintings. Watercolors from his oriental travels, projects for the decorations of the Dampierre castle, mythological scenes, religious compositions, and modern history paintings retraced the career of Gleyre, a neo-Greek painter and manager of a studio of more than five hundred students, among whom were the future Impressionists Bazille, Renoir, Sisley, and Monet.