The Balthus Collection
The Balthus Collection:
works, archives, and library
Long-term loans
Over one hundred drawings and paintings by Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, known as Balthus (1908-2001), are conserved at MCBA, thanks to a long-term loan established in 2019 by the artist’s wife, Countess Setsuko Klossowska de Rola, and their daughter, Harumi Klossowska de Rola.
The Balthus Archives hold thousands of documents, letters, and photographs documenting Balthus’s artmaking, daily routine, and social life.
A library of several hundreds of volumes contains all of the exhibition catalogues and monographs devoted to Balthus, along with the many publications (reviews, books, sales catalogues) referring to the artist and his works.
Consulting the archives’ resources
To help interested readers navigate these numerous sources, a computerised databank was set up by the artist’s heirs, who are the archives’ administrators and owners. The databank covers the Balthus Archives and provides access to transcriptions and copies of items in the archives and documents relating to the artist that are property of other institutions.
The Balthus Collection, as well as the databank, is open to art history researchers and can be consulted upon request.
Contacts
For the Balthus Archives, documentation, and Library: bibliotheque.mcba@plateforme10.ch
Works (paintings, drawings, and sculptures) by Balthus that are the property of the Canton of Vaud or are on loan to MCBA: collection.mcba@plateforme10.ch
All questions concerning authentication of works by Balthus should be addressed to Gagosian Paris: paris@gagosian.com
All questions touching on reproduction rights for works by Balthus should be addressed to contact@fonds-balthus.com
Balthus, a major artist of the 20th century, lived and worked at Le Grand Chalet in Rossinière, in the Canton of Vaud. MCBA devoted the definitive retrospective to him in 1993, along with a homage designed by Robert Wilson in 2018 (Balthus Unfinished).
Among the works on loan at MCBA
Balthus (Balthazar Klossowski de Rola), ‘Landscape (Muzot)’, around 1923. Oil on cardboard, 50 x 37.5 cm. Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts of Lausanne. Long-term loan of Setsuko Klossowska de Rola (the Balthus Collection), 2019. © Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne / Photo © Balthus / Harumi Klossowska de Rola
Balthus (Balthazar Klossowski de Rola), ‘Portrait of Alberto Giacometti’, around 1950. Pencil on paper, 21 x 16.5 cm. Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts of Lausanne. Long-term loan of Harumi Klossowska de Rola (the Balthus Collection), 2019. © Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne / Photo © Balthus / Harumi Klossowska de Rola
