Félix Vallotton (1865–1925) is one of the most important figures of French modernism at the turn of the century. In 2025 there is a double anniversary to celebrate: both the centenary of the artist’s death and the 160th anniversary of his birth. Over 150 works from all creative periods, genres, and techniques will be shown at two venues, including numerous masterpieces such as the iconic work La blanche et la noire. The exhibition title Illusions perdues (Lost Illusions) was inspired by one of the most famous works of nineteenth-century literature, the three-part novel by Honoré de Balzac that was part of his comprehensive series Comédie humaine. Like Balzac, Vallotton’s art is a precisely observed and trenchantly observed portrayal of society. This is initially manifested in his woodcuts and can be frequently observed later in his painting. Moreover, Vallotton’s style makes him into one of the proponents of Verism, which in its classical honesty distances itself from the picturesqueness of Impressionism, very similar to the way Balzac with his realism contributed to the overcoming of rapturous Romanticism.

In terms of content, this exhibition is oriented on Illusions perdues. After all, illusions are a fundamental subject of painting, which has always aimed to simulate reality. Vallotton’s Nabi friend Maurice Denis expressed more adamantly than anyone else that this was noticeably lost in the age of modernism, writing, “Remember that a painting—before it is a battle horse, a nude model, or some anecdote—is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order.” For the late nineteenth century, this was an outrageous remark that illustrates that the loss of illusion definitively marks the beginning of modernism.

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 all over Switzerland, with numerous exhibitions, publications, and events.

Curated by Andrea Lutz and David Schmidhauser