Fact sheet

Raphy Dallèves · Sion, 1878–1940

The reference

The contemporary of cubism who chose the Quattrocento.

For institutions and the press

Raphy Dallèves (1878-1940) was a Valais painter of the École de Savièse. Trained in Paris, he devoted his work to the peasant world of the Val d'Hérens, painting it in tempera in a language drawn from the Italian Quattrocento primitives. The art historian Frédéric Elsig called him "a modern primitive." On his death, his bequest became the founding core of what is now the Musée d'art du Valais. In 1909 he himself extended the term "École de Savièse" in the Tribune de Genève, helping to define the movement.

Fact sheet

Born: 26.01.1878, Sion
Died: 06.07.1940, Sion
Movement: École de Savièse (extends the term, 1909)
Training: Académie Julian; École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (1899-1905)
Media: Tempera, oil, watercolour, pencil, gold leaf
Recognition: Associate, Société nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris (1913)
Collections: Musée d'art du Valais, City of Sion, Kunsthaus Aarau, Swiss National Museum
Monograph: F. Elsig, Un primitif moderne, Éditions du Verseau, 1999
Anniversary: 150th anniversary of his birth in 2028