GIOVANNI SEGANTINI (1858-1899)
Piz Corvatsch (3,451m - 11, 322 ft)
Switzerland
In Alpine Triptych: Death, 1898-1899, oil on canvas, 190 cm x 320 cm,
Segantini Museum, St. Moritz.
About the painting
In 1897, Segantini was commissioned by a group of local hotels to build a huge panorama of the Engadin valley to be shown in a specially built round hall at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. For this project he worked almost exclusively outdoors on large canvases covered by substantial wooden shelters. Before it was completed, however, the project had to be scaled down for financial reasons. Segantini redesigned the concept into a large triptych known as Life, Nature and Death (Segantini Museum, St. Moritz), which is now his most famous work. He continued to work on it until his death. The painting above "Death", is the last part of the triptych, depicting some mountain of the Engadin valley, propably Piz Corvatsch, even though the name of the mountains painted are never precisely given in Segantini works.
The painter
Giovanni Segantini was an Italian painter known for his large pastoral landscapes of the Alps. He was one of the most famous artists in Europe in the late 19th century, and his paintings were collected by major museums. In later life, he combined a Divisionist painting style with Symbolist images of nature. He was active in Switzerland during the last period of his life.
More than anything else, Segantini's work represents the quintessential transition from traditional 19th century art to the changing styles and interests of the 20th century. He began with simple scenes of common people living of the land— peasants, farmers, shepherds—and moved toward a thematic symbolist style that continued to embody the landscapes around him while intertwining pantheistic images representing "a primeval Arcadia". Over the course of his life, he moved from both the physical and emotional internal, such as his scene of motherhood in a stable, to the grand external views of the mountain scenery where he chose to live.
Nature and the connections of people to nature are the core themes of his art. After he moved to the mountains he wrote "I am now working passionately in order to wrest the secret of Nature's spirit from her. Nature utters the eternal word to the artist: love, love; and the earth sings life in spring, and the soul of things reawakens."
His 1896 painting Love at the Springs of Life (Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Milan) reflects Segantini's philosophical approach to his art. Set in the high mountain landscape near his home, it pictures an angel with large wings spread over a small waterfall flowing from some rocks. In the distance two lovers, clothed in white flowing robes, walk along a path coming toward the spring. Around them are flowers that would have been seen by viewers at the time as symbols of love and life.
Art historian Robert Rosenblum described Segantini as transforming "the earthbound into the spiritual", and the artist himself referred to his work as "naturalist Symbolism".
More than anything else, Segantini's work represents the quintessential transition from traditional 19th century art to the changing styles and interests of the 20th century. He began with simple scenes of common people living of the land— peasants, farmers, shepherds—and moved toward a thematic symbolist style that continued to embody the landscapes around him while intertwining pantheistic images representing "a primeval Arcadia". Over the course of his life, he moved from both the physical and emotional internal, such as his scene of motherhood in a stable, to the grand external views of the mountain scenery where he chose to live.
Nature and the connections of people to nature are the core themes of his art. After he moved to the mountains he wrote "I am now working passionately in order to wrest the secret of Nature's spirit from her. Nature utters the eternal word to the artist: love, love; and the earth sings life in spring, and the soul of things reawakens."
His 1896 painting Love at the Springs of Life (Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Milan) reflects Segantini's philosophical approach to his art. Set in the high mountain landscape near his home, it pictures an angel with large wings spread over a small waterfall flowing from some rocks. In the distance two lovers, clothed in white flowing robes, walk along a path coming toward the spring. Around them are flowers that would have been seen by viewers at the time as symbols of love and life.
Art historian Robert Rosenblum described Segantini as transforming "the earthbound into the spiritual", and the artist himself referred to his work as "naturalist Symbolism".
He said "I've got God inside me. I don't need to go to church."
The mountain
Piz Corvatsch (3,451m-11, 322 ft) is a mountain in the Bernina Range of the Alps, overlooking Lake Sils and Lake Silvaplana in the Engadin region of the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It is the highest point on the range separating the main Inn valley from the Val Roseg. Aside from Piz Corvatsch, two other slightly lower summits make up the Corvatsch massif: Piz Murtèl (3,433 m (11,263 ft); north of Piz Corvatsch) and the unnamed summit where lies the Corvatsch upper cable car station (3,303 m (10,837 ft); north of Piz Murtèl). Politically, the summit of Piz Corvatsch is shared between the municipalities of Sils im Engadin and Samedan, although the 3,303 m high summit lies between the municipalities of Silvaplana and Samedan. The tripoint between the aforementioned municipalities is the summit of Piz Murtèl.
Several glaciers lie on the east side on the massif. The largest, below Piz Corvatsch, is named Vadret dal Murtèl. The second largest, below Piz Murtèl and the station, is named Vadret dal Corvatsch. The Corvatsch cable car starts above the village of Surlej, east of Silvaplana and culminates at 3,298 m. From there, the summit of Piz Corvatsch can be reached by traversing Piz Murtèl. In winter and spring, the mountain is part of a ski area, which is amongst the highest in Switzerland and the Eastern Alps.
Piz Corvatsch (3,451m-11, 322 ft) is a mountain in the Bernina Range of the Alps, overlooking Lake Sils and Lake Silvaplana in the Engadin region of the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It is the highest point on the range separating the main Inn valley from the Val Roseg. Aside from Piz Corvatsch, two other slightly lower summits make up the Corvatsch massif: Piz Murtèl (3,433 m (11,263 ft); north of Piz Corvatsch) and the unnamed summit where lies the Corvatsch upper cable car station (3,303 m (10,837 ft); north of Piz Murtèl). Politically, the summit of Piz Corvatsch is shared between the municipalities of Sils im Engadin and Samedan, although the 3,303 m high summit lies between the municipalities of Silvaplana and Samedan. The tripoint between the aforementioned municipalities is the summit of Piz Murtèl.
Several glaciers lie on the east side on the massif. The largest, below Piz Corvatsch, is named Vadret dal Murtèl. The second largest, below Piz Murtèl and the station, is named Vadret dal Corvatsch. The Corvatsch cable car starts above the village of Surlej, east of Silvaplana and culminates at 3,298 m. From there, the summit of Piz Corvatsch can be reached by traversing Piz Murtèl. In winter and spring, the mountain is part of a ski area, which is amongst the highest in Switzerland and the Eastern Alps.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
