Édouard Morerod

Spanish girl with headscarf

Édouard Henri Louis Morerod, born May 16, 1879 in Aigle and died July 22, 1919 in Lausanne, was a painter from Vaud. When his father died in 1889, the family moved to Lausanne, where the boy attended the Cantonal College. In 1891, when the mother died, Édouard and his sister were placed in a boarding school. The young man studied in Neuchâtel, at the Latin College, then at the cantonal gymnasium (from 1895), but passed his baccalaureate in Lausanne (1897). Demobilized from his military service (Bern) in 1899, Édouard Morerod began studying at the School of Fine Arts in Munich (January and February 1900 only), then left for Germany, Sweden and Norway. After a visit to Ibsen (in Oslo), he begins to write his diary. During a stay in Paris (1900), he met Steinlen, who would influence his work. In 1901, Édouard Morerod spent three months in Lotarevo (Russia), then discovered the country (Moscow, Tsaritzen, Georgia, Crimea). Before returning to Lausanne, where his first exhibition (Grenette) will be held, he stops in Constantinople, Athens and Rome. From 1903, Édouard Morerod stayed several times in Spain (Andalusia (Seville), Toledo). Success finally crowned his work: the Luxembourg Museum, the City of Paris and the Museum of Fine Arts in Neuchâtel sent him commissions. He exhibited at the Indépendants in 1903 and was a member of the jury for the Salon d'Automne in 1907. In Paris (1910), he met the Pulliéran painter Marius Borgeaud; he always meets Félix Vallotton, Alice Bailly and Francillon. Pierre Louÿs entrusts him with the artistic direction of his last play, La Femme et le Pantin, as well as the creation of the poster and the costumes (1910). After visits to several European cities, Édouard Morerod went to Leysin to treat himself from tuberculosis (1915), where he painted a few portraits. On December 6, 1915, his exhibition of pastels and drawings brought back from Spain opened in Lausanne, which Paul Vallotton presented in the salons of the Bernheim-Jeune gallery. While living surrounded by artists in Paris, the Beaux-Arts in Lausanne bought him a Pastora. In 1918, Édouard Morerod painted the sister of the poet Supervielle, Madame de Lasala. Édouard Morerod went to Seville in 1919, but his state of health forced him to return to Switzerland. After a brief stay in Leysin, he had to go back down to Lausanne, where he died on July 22, 1919. His body was buried in the Montoie cemetery. In 1921, the Galerie Moos in Geneva and the Musée Arlaud each devoted a retrospective to him.