Léo-Paul Robert

1851 Biel/Bienne – 1923 Le Jorat-Orvin BE

1851  March 19: born in Biel.  Autumn 1853: family moves to the Lower Ried, small country estate (at the foot of the Jura plateau above Biel).

1864 – 1868  High school in Neuchâtel, thereafter return to Ried; first art training from his father, Aurèle Robert, first independent works.

1869 – 1871  Further studies at the Munich Academy of Art, in particular under Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1804–1874), from 1870 Léo-Paul works under the guidance of Dr. Julius Naue in his studio which he shares with friends.  Influenced by the painter Moritz von Schwind.

End 1871: Death of his father Aurèle, return to Ried.

1872 – 1873  Journeys to Italy accompanied by Naue (Verona, Mantua, Venice, Ravenna, Pisa), lenghty stay in Florence.

1873 – 1875  Four stays in Paris. End 1873 begins his art studies at the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts), under Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904). Forms lifelong friendships with the painter Eugene Burnand (1850–1921). Returns to Ried. In the years 1873 to 1882 he regularly spends winter in Paris and summer in Ried.

1877   Weds Berthe de Rutté; Portrait de Mlle B. de Rutté (1877). Of their ten children, three of the sons will also become painters. In May: participates in the Salon de Paris, wins a medal for his picture Les Zéphyrs d'un beau soir (Musée des  Beaux-­Arts de Neuchâtel, today called Musée d’art et d’histoire de Neuchâtel [MAHN]) .

1878  L'Écho (Kunstmuseum Bern).

1878 – 1882  First publication of his bird watercolours, as illustrations for teaching in Swiss schools (publisher: Daniel Lebet, Lausanne); silver medal at the Exposition universelle in Paris (1882).

1882   Numerous landscapes, among them Premier Printemps (“Early Spring”) (bought by painter Albert Anker, now in MAHN). Start of a long crisis of inspiration.

1883 – 1885  March 83: illness, intense personal and religious crisis. Autumn 83: journey to Palestine, about which he later writes a book (En Terre Sainte. Notes et croquis d’un peintre, Lausanne/Paris 1893).

1886 – 1894   Commissioned to do large paintings for the grand staircase of the newly built Musée des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts) in Neuchâtel. To work on his three monumental canvases he builds a new large-scale studio in Lower Ried. He works on these paintings for eight years. 1888 buys the house in Upper Ried.

1891   Appointed to the Swiss Federal Arts Commission (of which, among others, Albert Anker is a member). Glass windows La Loi et la Grâce for the protestant church of St-Blaise (Canton Neuchâtel).

1893   Beginning of year: journey to Florence, Ravenna, Padua and Venice.

1894 – 1898   Embellishing the ceiling and framing with various ornaments the three huge paintings in the grand staircase of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Neuchâtel, in close collaboration with Clement Heaton.

1894 – 1918   Member of the Gottfried Keller Foundation.

1896   Premier printemps (1882, MAHN) is exhibited at the international salon in Berlin and warded a gold medal.

1897   Large mosaic across the facade of the Historical Museum in Berne (in collaboration with Clement Heaton). End 1897, commission from the Swiss government for large frescoes at what was then the Federal Supreme Court building in Lausanne.

1900 – 1901   Two sojourns in Florence with his wife and their son Théophile. First work on painting L'Humanité blessée (“Wounded Humanity”). Illustrations for the book Die schwarze Spinne (“The Black Spider”) by Jeremias Gotthelf (1797 - 1854). Translation of that book into French by his wife Berthe. Le val d'Orvin (1901, Kunsthaus Zurich).

1903 – 1921   Paints more than 500 watercolours of caterpillars.

1905   Completes the two great murals at the then Supreme Court building in Lausanne (La Justice élève les Nations; L'Avènement de la Paix).

1907   Glass window and two bronze reliefs for the MAHN; builds his house in Jorat/Orvin.

from 1910   Resumes his nature works: numerous watercolours of caterpillars and of birds  (jointly with his youngest son Paul-André).

1913   Completes the triptych L'Humanité blessée, exhibits it in Neuchâtel and in 1914 at the Swiss National Exhibition in Berne: failure (after 13 years’ work).

1915   Moves out of the house at Upper Ried and into the new house and studio in Jorat/Orvin. From now on he regularly spends summer there and winter in St-Blaise.

1916   Decorates the church in Orvin. Les oiseaux dans la nature. 50 monographies d’oiseaux utiles (text by Eugène Rambert, colour illustrations by L.-P. Robert, publisher  Delachaux & Niestlé, Neuchâtel).

1910 – 1921   Travelling exhibition of his caterpillar and bird watercolours shown in Geneva, Lausanne, Vevey and Berne with great success.

1917–1923   More than 400 new watercolours of birds.

1923   October 10: death of Léo-Paul Robert at Jorat.