Located on the 3rd and 4th floors of the Château in the former district prisons, disused since 1964, the Galerie du Château has been exhibiting artists from all horizons since 1977.
For the 1st exhibition of the year 2024, the Galerie du Château is presenting recent works by Guerino Paltenghi, who lives and works in Château-d'Oex: oil paintings (landscapes, flowers, fruit, etc.); inspirational sketches outdoors, then work in the studio.
When you see Paltenghi's work for the first time, you are immediately won over by the atmosphere that emanates from it: the colours are soft: "a tone that is too violent irritates me, I quickly cover it up", he says. He loves all the colours, with a predilection for all the subtle shades of 'green', the ones he fetches in spring from his studio in Ticino, when there are none to be found in Château-d'Oex.
The artist was born in 1935 in Croglio, Ticino, and spent his childhood in Ponte Tresa, where he still has close ties. At the age of 11, he moved to the Canton of Vaud, where his father went to work. Already Guerino was dreaming of becoming a painter, having been introduced to the art by his uncle Giordano Passera (1906-1960), who was a renowned painter. But when he had to choose a profession, he opted for an apprenticeship as a draughtsman-architect. He then opened an architect's studio in Château-d'Oex. He practised his profession until the age of fifty. He then decided to devote himself entirely to painting, a passion that had stayed with him for so long. Not a day goes by without his brushes: "If I don't paint, I become asocial, depression looms..." he says.
