Lachenal was a lover of music and the arts, he co-founded and presided the prestigious Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the Pro Helvetia Culture Foundation, which he presided from 1940 to 1952. At the end of the 1930s, he presided the foundation: Friends of the Museum of Art and History of Geneva. As a member and delegate of the International Committee for the Safeguarding of Spanish Art Treasures, created in January 1939, he played an important role in the safeguard operation of the Prado museum, during the Spanish Civil War, which paintings found refuge in Geneva. 174 of these paintings were exhibited in the halls of the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire (Geneva) in June, July and August 1939. The exhibition attracted more than 400'000 visitors. Paul Lachenal was the lawyer of Pablo Picasso, and godfather of his son Paul whom he sheltered during the Second World War in Geneva, Switzerland.
