50 shades of white at Fondation Pierre Gianadda

Exhibition gathers snow colours through the eyes of Monet, Hodler & Munch in Martigny

Viviane Vaz

If you are an Art & History lover like me, follow these Ancient Roman footsteps. In the spring of 1976, the engineer Léonard Gianadda discovered the remains of a Gallo-Roman temple on a plot of land he owned in Martigny. He decided to set up a foundation to preserve the memory of his brother. Today, the Foundation stages three art exhibitions a year, with works coming from private collections and from the world’s major museums. The main archeological relics discovered during the excavations in Martigny are also in exhibition at the Gallo-Roman Museum.

Old meets new: do you see how the Roman ruins were used to involve the new auditorium?


My group was lucky to see a beautiful temporary collection (run, it’s only until June!) connecting three very different painters –Claude Monet, Ferdinand Hodler and Edvard Munch, under the “Snow” thematic. It was cool to see how different a Frenchman, a Swiss and a Norwegian –from impressionism, postimpressionism and symbolism movements, respectively– treated the same subject in their own particular way.

I learned from this exhibition snow is never simply white. A layer of white is never enough in order to paint snow landscapes. Snow contains more colours and shades that non-painters can imagine! (I will reflect over it when I get up to the ski resort in Crans-Montana. But that’s another story.)

Paysage de Norvège by Claude Monet. How many colours do you see in this snow?

The gardens are open for a stroll through the Sculpture Park. If you are lucky, you might see Mr. Gianadda taking his coffee. As polite people, we tried not to disturb him:

Sometimes Léonard Gianadda comes to have his coffee and work in the Foundation cafeteria area.

Got inspired? Don’t hesitate to contact us to organize your next travel & event there…