Getty presents Exploring the Alps

Spread across eight countries, from France to Slovenia, the Alps have long captured the public imagination. Many artists, scientists, tourists, and climbers flocked to this region as 19th-century advances in mapping and mountaineering made the destination more accessible than ever. Exploring the Alpsaddresses how artists worked en plein air—directly in the landscape—often battling dangerous terrain and extreme conditions.

The highlight of the exhibition is Giovanni Segantini’s Study for La Vita, a monumental pastel that depicts the rugged and snowy mountains that surrounded his home in Switzerland’s Engadine Valley. One of the artist’s only works on paper in the U.S., the pastel depicts the last rays of sun catching the Alpine peaks as dusk settles into the valley. Created in the setting he depicts, Segantini’s drawing celebrates the beauty and timeless nature of the local landscape, with a cow in the foreground drinking water. Using parallel strokes of pastel with black chalk contours and shadows, he powerfully captured both the tranquil atmosphere of the valley and the immense scale of the Alps.

The exhibition also features Getty’s recently acquired drawing by John Ruskin, The Mont Blanc range from near Chamonix. Rapidly sketched in ink and watercolor, the mountain view was made to accompany a letter encouraging a friend to visit the region. Created from memory, the intricate drawing emphasizes Ruskin’s familiarity with and great passion for the Alps.

Also on view is Sir John Frederick William Herschel’s Bonneville near Geneva on the Road to Chamonix, a richly detailed drawing of the Alps. A highly-accomplished British scientist, Herschel produced this precise view with the aid of a camera lucida—an optical device that allowed artists to render perspective more accurately.

As working en plein air became more popular among landscape artists, the harsh terrain of the Alps challenged even the most determined individuals. Wellhorn and Wetterhorn, Left of the Rosenlaui Glacier, a photograph by Jacques Alexandre Ferrier, captures an artist sitting beneath an umbrella on a rocky hillside, painting the massive mountains in the distance.

“While the drawings and photographs in this exhibition illustrate the beauty of the famed mountainous region, these works also highlight the challenges faced by Alpine artists and explorers alike in the 19th century,” says Danielle Canter, assistant curator of drawings at the Getty Museum. “Whether someone is an avid hiker, rock climber, or simply an art enthusiast, we anticipate visitors will be inspired by these captivating scenes of the Alps.”

On view in the Getty Center’s South Pavilion through April 27, 2025, the exhibition features 11 works of art drawn from the Getty Museum and Getty Research Institute collections.

Main Image: Study for La Vita, 1897, Giovanni Segantini. Pastel, black chalk, conte crayon, and charcoal, with touches of graphite, on tan paper, 35 7/16 × 63 1/2 in. Getty Museum, 2018.53