From Léman to Jura
A year-long plein-air painting journey through the Canton of Vaud, from Lake Geneva to the Jura and the Vaud Alps. Discover 63 oil paintings created in 42 locations, exploring the landscapes, villages, heritage and everyday life of the canton.
Project journey map — conceived and created by Olga Tacan across the Canton of Vaud.
FROM LAKE LÉMAN TO THE JURA — PAINTING ON LOCATION
A painted journey through the Canton of Vaud
From February 2027 to January 2028, Olga Tacan will travel across the Canton of Vaud, brushes and colours in hand, painting directly on location.
From Lake Léman to the Jura, passing through La Côte, Lavaux, the Riviera, Chablais, Northern Vaud, Gros-de-Vaud and the Vaud Alps, the project will result in a series of approximately 63 plein-air studies painted in 42 locations.
A CANTON TO BE PAINTED
The project begins with a simple idea: to discover a territory by painting it.
Each location will be observed directly, through the changing seasons and variations of light. Ports, villages, landscapes, roads, vineyards, mountains, lakeshores, architecture and scenes of everyday life will become subjects for painting.
The aim is not to create a tourist inventory of the canton, but to build, painting after painting, a personal and sensitive vision of the Vaud territory.
PAINTING ON LOCATION
Plein-air painting creates a particular relationship with time and place.
The light changes, the sky transforms, colours shift. A painting must therefore be made within a limited period of time, while remaining attentive to what is actually happening before the artist.
For Olga Tacan, plein-air painting is also a way of creating a direct relationship with the territory. Each study preserves the trace of a precise moment: a particular light, an atmosphere, a season, an encounter between the gaze and the landscape.
63 STUDIES — 42 LOCATIONS
Over the course of one year, approximately 63 oil paintings on paper will be created in 42 locations across the Canton of Vaud.
The journey will pass through:
• Lake Léman and La Côte
• Lavaux
• the Riviera and Chablais
• Northern Vaud and Gros-de-Vaud
• the Vaud Jura
• the Vaud Alps
A painted journey through the Canton of Vaud
From February 2027 to January 2028, Olga Tacan will travel across the Canton of Vaud, brushes and colours in hand, painting directly on location.
From Lake Léman to the Jura, passing through La Côte, Lavaux, the Riviera, Chablais, Northern Vaud, Gros-de-Vaud and the Vaud Alps, the project will result in a series of approximately 63 plein-air studies painted in 42 locations.
A CANTON TO BE PAINTED
The project begins with a simple idea: to discover a territory by painting it.
Each location will be observed directly, through the changing seasons and variations of light. Ports, villages, landscapes, roads, vineyards, mountains, lakeshores, architecture and scenes of everyday life will become subjects for painting.
The aim is not to create a tourist inventory of the canton, but to build, painting after painting, a personal and sensitive vision of the Vaud territory.
PAINTING ON LOCATION
Plein-air painting creates a particular relationship with time and place.
The light changes, the sky transforms, colours shift. A painting must therefore be made within a limited period of time, while remaining attentive to what is actually happening before the artist.
For Olga Tacan, plein-air painting is also a way of creating a direct relationship with the territory. Each study preserves the trace of a precise moment: a particular light, an atmosphere, a season, an encounter between the gaze and the landscape.
63 STUDIES — 42 LOCATIONS
Over the course of one year, approximately 63 oil paintings on paper will be created in 42 locations across the Canton of Vaud.
The journey will pass through:
• Lake Léman and La Côte
• Lavaux
• the Riviera and Chablais
• Northern Vaud and Gros-de-Vaud
• the Vaud Jura
• the Vaud Alps
ONE YEAR, FOUR SEASONS
The project will take place over a full year, from February 2027 to January 2028.
The same landscapes will never be quite the same. Winter light, the colours of spring, the long days of summer and the mists of autumn will gradually transform the places visited.
The seasons will therefore become an integral part of the series.
A COLLECTION IN MOTION
Each study will be an autonomous work, while the series as a whole will form a coherent body of work.
Together, the paintings will tell the story of a journey through the canton: a territory discovered slowly, in fragments, at the rhythm of days spent painting.
The project continues the approach of CERULEANISTIQUE: a plein-air painting practice based on direct observation, colour and an intimate relationship with the landscape.
THE FINAL EXHIBITION
At the end of this year of painting, the studies will be brought together in a final exhibition at CINQ in Cully.
The exhibition will invite visitors to travel through the canton via paintings created on location and to discover, as a single body of work, the 63 stages of this year of creation.
FROM LAKE LÉMAN TO THE JURA
One territory.
42 locations.
63 paintings.
One year spent looking and painting.
The journey begins on the shores of Lake Léman.
The project will take place over a full year, from February 2027 to January 2028.
The same landscapes will never be quite the same. Winter light, the colours of spring, the long days of summer and the mists of autumn will gradually transform the places visited.
The seasons will therefore become an integral part of the series.
A COLLECTION IN MOTION
Each study will be an autonomous work, while the series as a whole will form a coherent body of work.
Together, the paintings will tell the story of a journey through the canton: a territory discovered slowly, in fragments, at the rhythm of days spent painting.
The project continues the approach of CERULEANISTIQUE: a plein-air painting practice based on direct observation, colour and an intimate relationship with the landscape.
THE FINAL EXHIBITION
At the end of this year of painting, the studies will be brought together in a final exhibition at CINQ in Cully.
The exhibition will invite visitors to travel through the canton via paintings created on location and to discover, as a single body of work, the 63 stages of this year of creation.
FROM LAKE LÉMAN TO THE JURA
One territory.
42 locations.
63 paintings.
One year spent looking and painting.
The journey begins on the shores of Lake Léman.