Swiss Artwork

Swiss art prints bring the mountains, lakes and village life of Switzerland into your home. Our collection gathers about 450 works by Swiss painters and printmakers, from Ferdinand Hodler's Alpine views and Arnold Böcklin's dreamlike scenes to Albert Anker's farmhouse interiors and Henry Fuseli's scenes from Shakespeare and Milton. You will also find Alexandre Calame's lakes, Angelica Kauffman's portraits, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen's Paris posters, and plates of birds, insects and mushrooms.

About Swiss Art

Switzerland sits where German, French and Italian culture meet, and its art has never followed a single national style. Many of its best-known painters built their careers abroad. Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702–1789), born in Geneva, worked in Rome, Istanbul, Paris, Vienna and London, and wore Turkish dress for so long that he was nicknamed "the Turkish painter".

Henry Fuseli (1741–1825), born in Zürich, spent most of his career in Britain and became Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy in London. Angelica Kauffman (1741–1807), born in Chur, was one of only two women among the Academy's founding members in 1768.

At home, the Alps became the great subject. In the mid to late 18th century, the Swiss came to see their mountains as a symbol of national beauty rather than a dangerous barrier. Caspar Wolf (1735–1783) painted glaciers, caves and waterfalls, and Alexandre Calame (1810–1864) showed his Alpine and forest paintings in Paris and Berlin from 1835.

In the 19th century, Albert Anker (1831–1910), often called the country's "national painter", painted everyday life in rural villages like his home town of Ins. Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901) of Basel became a leading Symbolist, and Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) of Bern developed a style he called "parallelism". In the 20th century, Félix Vallotton of Lausanne joined the Nabis in Paris, Paul Klee, who grew up in Bern, taught at the Bauhaus, and the Dada movement began at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zürich in 1916.

Style and Subjects

Landscape runs through the whole collection. Calame painted emerald glaciers, foaming mountain water and trees split by storms, while Hodler's later landscapes are pared down to bands of shoreline, mountain, water and sky.

People and stories make up the rest. Anker shows children, farmers and village schoolmasters in a plain, unidealised way. Böcklin sets myths in classical villas and wild landscapes, often with death close by, and Fuseli turned Shakespeare and Milton into supernatural scenes. Liotard's portraits are known for their detail and striking naturalism. The collection also includes natural history plates of insects, mushrooms and birds.

Famous Works

• The Chocolate Girl (about 1744), Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden. Liotard's pastel of a maid carrying a cup of drinking chocolate.
• The Nightmare (1781), Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit. Fuseli's first commercially successful work.
• Milton Dictating to His Daughter (1793), Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Fuseli painted 47 Milton subjects for his own Milton Gallery.
• Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle (1872), Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Böcklin painted this self-portrait, with Death playing a violin, after returning to Munich.
• Isle of the Dead (1880), Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel. The first version of Böcklin's best-known painting.
• By the Lake of Uri (1849), Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel. One of Calame's lake and mountain views.
• The Woodcutter (1910), Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Hodler also chose a woodcutter for his design of the Swiss 50 franc note, issued in 1911.
• Ad Parnassum (1932), Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern. Considered Paul Klee's masterpiece.

Decorating with Swiss Art Prints

Alpine and lake views are the easiest place to start. Calame's By the Lake of Uri and Vierwaldstätter See, Hodler's Die Dents Blanches and Caspar Wolf's glacier scenes suit a living room, hallway or bedroom, especially in cabin and chalet-style interiors.

Anker's quiet domestic scenes, such as Knitting Girl Reading and Farmer Reading on the Stove Bench, suit kitchens, reading corners and children's rooms. Böcklin and Fuseli are darker and more dramatic, so they work best in a study, library or dining room. The bird and insect plates make a good gallery wall for a kitchen, bathroom or home office, and Steinlen's Tournée du Chat Noir poster brings Paris cabaret style to an entryway or bar area.

FAQ

Who are the most famous Swiss painters?

Ferdinand Hodler, Arnold Böcklin and Albert Anker are the painters most closely linked with Switzerland. Liotard, Fuseli and Kauffman found fame abroad, and Paul Klee and Félix Vallotton became internationally known in the 20th century.

What is the most famous Swiss painting?

Arnold Böcklin's Isle of the Dead is a strong candidate, and prints of it were very popular in central Europe in the early 20th century. Henry Fuseli's The Nightmare is another.

Where can I see Swiss art in Switzerland?

The Kunstmuseum Basel holds the first Isle of the Dead and Calame's By the Lake of Uri. In Bern, the Kunstmuseum has Klee's Ad Parnassum and Hodler's The Night, and the Zentrum Paul Klee is devoted to Klee's work.

What makes Swiss painting recognizable?

There is no single Swiss style, since many Swiss painters trained or worked abroad. What they often share is the landscape: the Alps, glaciers and lakes appear again and again.

What is Ferdinand Hodler's "parallelism"?

Parallelism was Hodler's name for a style built on symmetry and rhythm. Figures are arranged in matching poses, and his landscapes repeat bands of shore, mountain and sky. He first set out the idea in a lecture in 1897.

Related Artists

• Ferdinand Hodler — Bern-born painter of Alpine views, Lake Geneva and "parallelism"
• Arnold Böcklin — Basel-born Symbolist and painter of Isle of the Dead
• Henry Fuseli — Zürich-born painter of The Nightmare and Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy
• Albert Anker — Switzerland's "national painter" of village life
• Angelica Kauffman — Chur-born portrait and history painter, a founding member of the Royal Academy