Chemin à Savièse, 1903

Alfred Rehfous  

Painter of Genevan origin, Alfred Rehfous died in Saillon in 1912. Born in 1860, he studied fine arts in his native town, then continued his artistic training in Paris. His style was influenced by his master Barthélemy Menn; he shared his studio with the great Ferdinand Hodler and received a gold medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900. He then decided to settle in the Valais, first in Savièse, then in Saillon where he rented an old house in the center of the medieval village.

Tall, strong, with an imposing build and curly hair, he hated insincerity and loved freedom above all. His personality was imbued with an aristocratic nobility, a character that is reflected in his work.

One could see him, at the first light of day, with his mule, near the Bourneaux gate, discovering everything that could delight the eye of a painter and touch the soul of a poet: our limestone rocks emerging from the marshy plain, our islets covered with oseraies among the bubbling Sarvaz, the remains of our feudal castle, our quarries of ancient marble with their brilliant tones.

Catalogued among the painters of the "Ecole de Savièse", a debatable appellation, Alfred Rehfous possesses a palette of a rare preciousness and a sumptuous finesse.

The only retrospective of Alfred Rehfous' paintings took place in Geneva, at the Rath Museum, one year after his death... in 1913.