Minneapolis Institute of Art

Mountain with Cattle

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Date

1918

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

German painter Ernst Kirchner presents a tranquil bird’s-eye view of a herd of cattle grazing in the majestic Swiss Alps. The forms in the landscape are abstracted: the cows, farmer, mountaineer, hilly green terrain, flowing stream, purple and pink mountain peaks, and spiky trees. Kirchner painted the colorful scene soon after emigrating to Switzerland from Germany. He had sought medical treatment there after suffering a mental crisis and physical collapse while serving as an artillery driver in World War I and had developed an addiction to narcotics. The grand, vibrant scene seems to encapsulate the artist’s experience of nature in Switzerland at this sensitive moment of his recovery. Kirchner wrote in 1918, “Down below in the valley the cabins stand out in the boldest Paris blue against the yellow fields. For the first time here one really gets to know the worth of individual colors. And, in the bargain, the stark monumentality of the rows of mountains.” Europe

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.