Emerging from the damp, cool cave and onto the summer pastures, across narrow bridges, past the curious gaze of farmers, onward towards cascading waterfalls where rainbows sometimes form in the mist.

The exhibition invites you to explore Switzerland’s diverse landscapes, from its mesmerizing peaks to the wild and unseen remote corners of nature. At the same time, it opens up a journey through time, presenting drawings created around 1800. Around this time, they had a decisive influence on the image of ‘beautiful Switzerland’ – both at home and abroad – which continues to have an impact today.

This drawn world unfolds between two contrasting poles. On the one hand, there are sublime depictions of nature in its breathtaking clarity: mountain ranges, glacier tongues and rough rock faces. On the other, we encounter intimate scenes and everyday life: from traditional farmhouses filled with woven straw baskets, milk buckets and pitchforks, to young farmers stone-putting in Appenzell, or a mother sitting in front of her home with her children in the evening, while the father puffs on his pipe in the background.

From the equally extensive and high-quality holdings of the Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich, comprising more than 4,000 drawings by Swiss artists, a selection has been made for this exhibition—including works by such outstanding figures as Caspar Wolf, Johann Ludwig Aberli, and Sigmund Freudenberger—that appeals both to enthusiasts of Swiss landscapes and to those who admire the mastery of drawing around 1800.

Curated by Susanne Pollack, Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich and Linda Vogel, Department of Art History, University of Zurich