Rhone Glacier

The picture shows the glacier tongue in the 1960s, with the Rhone emerging in the center of the painting. The rock face pictured is now ice-free in summer because the glacier is retreating further up the valley due to global warming. By the end of this century, it may have disappeared completely. The painting is dominated by the structure of the rocks and the steep ice wall. Breakages, edges, and cracks form a turbulent pattern, and the light falling from the side combines ice and rock into a coarse-grained ornament of light and dark.