Celestial Emergence

A grandiose portrait of Piz Badile, the emblematic mountain of the Bernina massif in the Swiss Alps. It rises to 3308 meters in the Val Bregaglia, on the border between Italy and Switzerland. This black-and-white photograph highlights its vertiginous north face, climbed by top-level mountaineers via the Cassin route. It is one of the five most mythical north faces in the Alps.

When I discovered Piz Badile on my first trip to the Bernina massif, I was immediately impressed by its charisma. The verticality of its north face, its astonishingly smooth, featureless rock. For many years, I kept the desire to paint a portrait of this astonishing mountain after the storm. But Piz Badile is a 6-hour drive from my home, and I couldn't go into it headlong. So I tirelessly studied the weather forecasts for the region. Until one day, I felt the time was right. It was spring 2020. I left before the storm and waited 5 days under an opaque sky. 5 days waiting for the moment of grace when the mountain would appear, beyond the clouds, immaculate in white. The incredible sight of summit redrawn for a few hours by nature. Finally, I could take a portrait of Piz Badile, an inaccessible mountain clad in its ephemeral coat of snow.

In the photograph, a curtain of mist opens over the queenly mountain. Piz Badile in majesty. The angle adopted and the sparkling light highlight the purity of its walls and the splendor of its lines. The lightning verticality of its impassable north face. Between light and shadow, the mountain reveals itself. Yin and Yang of a summit whose soul reveals itself beyond the clouds. I love the contrasts that animate this work, deep and silvery. The photograph invites us to discover an epic scene. When Piz Badile, with its sharp peaks, defies the sky to swallow it up again. A celestial epic that touches me deeply. Contemplating this work will take you on a journey to meet this magnificent summit of the Swiss Alps.