In an attractively colourful designed exhibition the Museum of Art Lucerne opens the visitors eye to a new, fresh view of the pictorial world and the creative process of Robert Zünd (1827–1909), one of Switzerlands most popular artists. By positioning face to face different variations of the same motive the exhibition refutes Zünd’s reputation of just the artist with the photographic eye. The idyllic countryside around Lucerne was the starting point and material for the composition of idealised landscapes. For the first time ever his three versions of the Eichenwald (oakwood), his most famous painting, are to be seen united.

This first comprehensive exhibition of the work of Robert Zünd in 26 years, featuring some 180 paintings, studies and drawn sketches, sheds new light on the way in which his pictures come into being. It is worth paying attention to the choice and variation in his motifs, and his particular viewpoints. Also included in the exhibition, alongside all the famous major works from the big Swiss museums and private collections, are some works either rarely shown or hitherto unknown.

Immerse yourself in an apparently undisturbed 19th-century landscape, and revel in the affectionate depictions of the countryside. Robert Zünd demonstrates his mastery in a particularly impressive way in his treatment of light: the shadows cast by trees lend a striking depth to his sun-drenched meadows, cornfields and sea-shores. His pictures of oak and beech forests are considered to be masterpieces of Swiss art history, and recreate the fascinating atmosphere, fed by the play of light and shade, that surrounds us in forests. Such is Zünd’s skill as a painter that we even imagine we can hear the rustling of leaves and the twittering of birds.

An early work influenced by the great Geneva painter Alexandre Calame leads seamlessly into heroic landscapes, often charged with biblical figures and dramatic weather conditions, to reach perfection in unspectacular motifs from the Lucerne artist’s immediate surroundings. With his precise observation of nature and a meticulous style of painting which outdoes even photography in its wealth of details, Zünd is unequalled in his ability to convey a profound sensitivity towards nature.

Robert Zünd, a unique phenomenon within the great tradition of Swiss landscape painting, is receiving appropriate recognition this summer in the Museum of Art Lucerne, which is itself within the KKL Lucerne Culture and Convetion Center, directly at the shores of lake Lucerne, the very heart of the artist’s work. A must for all art-lovers, a delight for young and old alike.