LAUSANNE.- Pursuing its exploration of world-famous collections, the Fondation de l’Hermitage presents an exceptional selection of 100 masterpieces from the prestigious Städel Museum in Frankfurt, one of the oldest art museums in Germany founded in 1815 by merchant and banker Johann Friedrich Städel (1728-1816). Taking the visitor on a fascinating journey through the main artistic movements from Romanticism to Expressionism, this rich exhibition will give special emphasis to the German and French schools.

The show opens with Tischbein’s well-known portrait of Goethe reclining painted in 1787, and goes on to pay tribute to 19th-century French art - from Corot and Courbet’s Realist landscapes to Renoir’s radiant Impressionist portraits and the striking perspective of Degas’ Orchestra Musicians. One of the high points of the exhibition is Symbolism featuring artists such as Böcklin, Ensor, Moreau, Munch and Redon with their strange imaginative worlds tinged with mysticism which are echoed by a group of intimist paintings by Nabi artists : Bonnard, Vallotton and Vuillard.

From 1905, German Expressionism — represented here by Die Brücke (Heckel and Nolde) and Der Blaue Reiter (Marc and Jawlensky) — concentrated on instinctive painting using a strongly subjective palette of colours as can be seen in Franz Marc’s Dog lying in the Snow. Unconventional artist Max Beckmann used his powerful, incisive style to highlight the art of distortion and express the anxieties of his era. Ernst, Klee and Picasso’s visionary experiments stand out as decisive landmarks in modern art. A fine ensemble of sculptures by Laurens, Maillol, and Rodin adds a further dimension to enhance this major presentation.