In addition to its important collections of works on paper - prints (40,000) and drawings (10,000) - the Musée Jenisch Vevey keeps a collection of paintings (1,300), a selection of which is exhibited in the glass room on the first floor.
Director of the institution since April 2019, Nathalie Chaix opened her new presentation of the painting rooms at the end of November - as much a way of making the Vevey collections her own as a way of sharing her favorites with the public. Previously chronological, the new display now unfolds thematically: water, landscape, portraiture, still life and finally the nude. It opens with a portrait of Fanny Jenisch (1801-1881) to recall the history of the institution that bears the name of the woman who bequeathed money to the city at the end of the 19th century to build a museum there.
The exhibition features prestigious works from the collections, some of which have not been seen for several years: Amiet, Auberjonois, Bocion, Calame, Corot, Courbet, Giacometti, Giron, Hodler, Menn, Morandi, Marquet, Palézieux, Picasso, de Staël, Vallotton, up to contemporary art. The whole is built to create a harmonious dialogue between the works. In addition, the display, thanks to captioned labels, recalls the role of private initiative in the history of the museum and in the enrichment of its holdings: the Foundation of the Fine Arts Society of Vevey, the Foundation for the Arts and Letters, the Foundation of the Friends of the Jenisch Museum Vevey, as well as other artists’foundations deposited within the institution.
