The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 6, 2026

A vertically oriented ink and graphite drawing depicts a dense crowd exiting an arched doorway. In the foreground, an older man with glasses leans on a black umbrella while another man in a light coat reaches back into the cluster. Figures in black top hats and dark coats are rendered with flat black ink and fine graphite shading on light paper. A label at the bottom right reads "LA SORTIE."

The Exit

1894

Félix Vallotton

(Swiss French, 1865–1925)
France
India ink and graphite on paper
Sheet: 36.2 x 26.4 cm (14 1/4 x 10 3/8 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2025.149
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This drawing was one of five that Vallotton created for reproduction in Le Courrier Français in 1894.

Description

Swiss-born artist Félix Vallotton was known for boldly graphic images that depicted—often satirically—the lives of the Parisian bourgeoisie. He used this style, which featured flat planes of black and white, to produce both woodcuts and illustrations for popular journals. This drawing was reproduced in an 1894 issue of the popular arts and culture weekly Le Courrier Français. It depicts a sea of top-hat-clad men and veiled women departing a Parisian theater, probably the Odéon, with a sense of chaos that belies their formal attire. Like many of his time, Vallotton was interested in the psychology of crowds and the impact of urban life on the inhabitants of modern cities like Paris.
  • Private Collection
    Arthur G. Altschul [1920–2002], New York, NY
    Galerie Hopkins, Paris, France
    Stéphane Custot, London, England
    ?–2025
    (Waddington Custot, London, England, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    June 9, 2025–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Herbert, Robert L., and Yale University Art Gallery. Neo-Impressionists and Nabis in the Collection of Arthur G. Altschul. New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, 1965.
    Vallotton, Félix, Musée cantonal des beaux-arts Lausanne, and Galerie Paul Vallotton. La Galerie Paul Vallotton SA a L’honneur de PréSenter, Du 19 Novembre 1992 Au 30 Janvier 1993, Une SéLection d’Œuvres de FéLix Vallotton. Lausanne: La Galerie, 1992.
  • Félix Vallotton: A Retrospective. Yale University, New Haven, CT (1992), Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (1992), Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (1992), Musée Cantonal, Lausanne, Switzerland (1992).
    Background to Modernism: Prints and Drawings, 1889–1906, Mead Art Gallery, Amherst, MA (October 9–November 16, 1979).
    The Graphic Art of Félix Vallotton. Grunwald Graphic Arts Foundation, Los Angeles, CA (October 24–November 19, 1972).
    Neo-Impressionists and Nabis in the Collection of Arthur G. Altschul. Yale University, New Haven, CT (1965).
  • {{cite web|title=The Exit|url=false|author=Félix Vallotton|year=1894|access-date=06 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.149