Origins of Continuity
Genève — La Suisse is an early composition defining the structural representation of Geneva within the Maison, establishing the relationship between location, composition, and continuity through one of the most emblematic vessels of the Léman.
Archived within the Six Origins Corpus, this entry belongs to the foundational body of compositions that shaped the early visual language of Atelier WOCS. Through the steamboat La Suisse, the Jet d’Eau, and the horizon of the lake, the work inscribes Geneva within a grammar of movement, civic identity, and enduring presence.
Patrimoine du Léman
50 total attributions
Format I
42 × 59 cm
Format II
59 × 84 cm
Format III
89 × 128 cm
Composition Characteristics
Additional Details
The composition brings together two enduring emblems of Geneva: the Jet d’Eau, whose ascent transformed a technical necessity into one of the city’s most recognisable signs, and La Suisse, the great Belle Époque steamboat commissioned for the waters of the Léman at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Built for the CGN and later preserved as a monument of national importance, La Suisse embodies a period in which navigation, tourism, and civic ambition entered a shared visual memory of the lake. Within the composition, the vessel becomes more than a historical object: it serves as the structural anchor of a Geneva defined by movement, visibility, and permanence.