GENEVA.- Born at the beginning of the Impressionist movement, the eleven exhibited naturalist painters distinguish themselves from their contemporaries by their total commitment to their fertile dialogue with Nature.

The exhibited works, about fifty stemming from private collections, take their time – at the rate of the seasons – to review the intimate link which exists between art and nature.

This pictorial journey on the roads of France also crosses into Switzerland with views of Lake Geneva and the Vaudois Riviera, of which Gaston Balande and Victor-Ferdinand Bourgeois were particularly enamoured.

Victor Bourgeois undertook a journey through Switzerland in the Autumn of 1908 after completing his studies at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, from which he brought back pastels of intense luminosity.

Upon his return the following year, the famous Gallery Georges Petit in Paris organized a memorable exhibition of more than 80 pastels of the artist, most of which have not been seen by the public since.

Bourgeois’ Swiss pastels prefigure the fauves works which he would later execute on the Côte d'Azur together with his friend Armand Guillaumin.

Four pastels are presented for the first time as well as an important rediscovered painting – Le Lac Léman ou Après-midi de printemps, vue de Chexbres – exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français of 1911, where it was greatly acclaimed.

List of exhibited artists:
Gaston Balande (1880–1971), Victor-Ferdinand Bourgeois (1870–1957), André-Marcel Chotin (1888–1969), Emile Colinus (1884–1966), Paul Deltombe (1878–1971), René Fontayne (1891–1952), Arthur Greuell (1891–1966), Edmond-Edouard Lapeyre (1880–1960), Henri-Alexandre Sollier (1886–1966), André-Léon Vivrel (1885–1976), Lucien Vogt (1891–1968).