
In the shadow ? Unknown ? How Laugé might be a new addition to the history of Neo-Impressionism
Until the 30 October 2022, the Fondation de l'Hermitage in Lausanne is showcasing a (new) Neo-impressionist, a person which I've never heard during my art history classes or even seeing during the exhibitions I went too.
In a sense, the work is still in progress. The catalogue raisonné of the artist is still in preparation by Nicole Tamburini, one of the two curators of the show. So, it's safe to say that this presentation in Lausanne might be the most complete and complex of the oeuvre of Achille Laugé.
It's also safe to say that he was not recognised as an artist in the first half of his life. While Laugé was born on the 29 April 1861 in the small French village of Arzens, his studies led him to do to become a pharmacist, not due to his passion for it, but due to a family decision... He later enrolled into the School of Fine Arts in Toulouse from 1876 to 1881 and met with numerous important artists of his generation such as Antoine Bourdelle, Henri Martin and Henri Marre. Some of those artists are shown in the first room of the exhibition, where Laugé is presented with his first works, already made with his Neo-Impressionist style and his small format inspired by the croqueton (sketche) of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac.

While speaking of these two important protagonists of the movement, he meets both of them in Paris after he convinces his parents to let him give up his pharmacy studies. He later arrived in Paris in 1881, enrol into the National School of Fine Arts and share a studio with Cabanel.
After five years in Paris, he will finally meet his mentor, his inspiration: Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. Due to an idea of Maillol to visit the 1886 Salon des Indépendants, probably with Laugé, they discovered Seurat's MASTERPIECE, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-1886).
Since 1888, the life of Laugé will be divided between two cities, Paris and Carcassonne. While Paris will be the town he exhibits and sells work. The south of France will become his main source of inspiration.


In 1906, a book will be published about his work and his practice. Titled "Achille Laugé, peintre languedocien", and written by Victor Gastilleur. And during the same year, he will exhibit 24 paintings at the Salon d'automne, and two of them will be bought by the state for the Musée du Louvre (and now the Musée d'Orsay), a year later three more works will be bought by the state. The same thing will happen in the late 1910s and in the 1920s.
Laugé died on the 2nd of June 1944.
Informations about the exhibition
Place: Fondation de l'Hermitage
Date: 24.6.2022 – 30.10.2022
Curators: Sylvie Wuhrmann & Nicole Tamburini
Ticket: Available online OR at the front desk of the museum
Informations about the Fondation de l'Hermitage
Route du Signal 2
CH-1018 Lausanne
Phone: +41 21 320 50 01