La Collection de la Société des Arts de Genève. / The Collection of the Society of Arts of Geneva

This exceptional, richly illustrated museum catalog presents, for the first time, the historic art collection of the Société des Arts de Genève—a major cultural institution founded in 1776. While the collection is housed at the Palais de l’Athénée in Geneva, this scholarly volume was produced in collaboration with the University of Geneva and the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève as part of a larger heritage research and restoration initiative launched in 2020.

The catalog is divided into three sections. The first traces the role of the Société in founding Geneva’s earliest art schools and museums. The second explores how the collection was assembled, with insights into artistic materials, techniques, and the profession of painting in Geneva during the 18th and 19th centuries. The final section presents a comprehensive catalogue raisonné of 144 works—comprising paintings, pastels, miniatures, and sculptures—created before 1918. Many of these pieces form a portrait series that reflects Geneva’s evolving aesthetic tastes from the Enlightenment through the early 20th century.

This is the first complete publication dedicated to the collection of the Société des Arts de Genève, offering an essential resource for collectors, art historians, and scholars of Swiss art and portraiture.