Art History Course

Every year, the Musée Jenisch Vevey offers a series of art history courses designed and led by Frédéric Elkaïm, a freelance art historian and founder of ArtNow! The topics, which are developed in dialogue with the museum’s exhibitions, focus on the works in its collection. The courses, organised as part of the ‘Jeudis inédits’ programme, take place on Thursdays from 7.30 pm to 8.00 pm.

In 2026, the series will explore the theme: ‘Landscape as a driving force of modernism – from Japonism through the Planque Collection to contemporary drawing’.

This exploration highlights how landscape – long dismissed as a minor genre until the Neoclassical period – became one of the most important sources of modernism and led, in contemporary art, to abstraction and beyond. The exhibitions presented by the museum throughout the year, in particular those dedicated to the Planque Collection, which was recently unveiled to the public, will enrich this exploration.

Thursday, 8 January
Before modern art: Landscape in the hierarchy of genres, from Romanticism to Realism, using the Swiss Mountain School as an example.

Thursday, 12 February
Clouds and mountains in the Far East: Hokusai, Japanese woodblock prints and the influence of Japonism in Europe, from the Nabis to Art Nouveau.

Thursday, 19 March
The Transformed Landscape: from Hodler’s Symbolism to the Pont-Aven School and the Savièse School.

Thursday, 7 May
Colour as a Path to Abstraction: the Fauvists and Expressionists in France, Germany and Switzerland.

Thursday, 4 June
From Landscape to Abstraction: How Nature Inspired the Aesthetic Revolution of the Avant-garde, from Cubism to Suprematism.

Thursday, 10 September
The Post-war Period: The Non-figurative Landscape, from the Second Paris School to Abstract Expressionism.

Thursday, 1 October
Land Art: a Romantic revival or a precursor to ecological art?

Thursday, 19 November
Composing with nature: Giuseppe Penone, Arte Povera and pigment drawings.

Thursday, 10 December
The landscape today: contemporary painting, printmaking and drawing.

The images are taken from our collections and are not representative of the course content.