In the Swiss Alps 

Editor: This drawing, "In the Swiss Alps" by Jan Wiegers, seems to capture the landscape in pastel and yet it’s not soft or traditionally pretty, but has a kind of urgent energy to it. I'm struck by how he uses colour and line to define space, what do you make of it? Curator: Well, its formal qualities are certainly the key to its effect. Consider the line – the deliberate, almost violent application of pastel, which does not so much describe the mountains as construct them, rebuilding nature according to its own internal logic. The planes of colour seem arbitrary at first, yet they operate within a visual architecture – a clear and precise symbolic articulation. Editor: So, it's about how it's put together rather than representing something accurately? Curator: Precisely. Note the restricted palette – earth tones combined with cool blues and violets. These choices aren’t merely descriptive, they are fundamentally structural, almost acting as linguistic devices. This creates a clear semiotic discourse, which invites you to question not what is depicted but why these formal decisions were made. Editor: So it's about the language of the artwork? I suppose if we were looking at, say, the Swiss culture at the time, we'd miss the point? Curator: To a certain extent, yes. To bring in the cultural at this point is simply superfluous. We begin by considering how it signifies internally, rather than what it reflects externally. How does its internal network operate, quite apart from any notion of "Swissness"? Editor: That makes sense. It’s a good reminder to really look at the artwork itself, without immediately jumping to context. Thanks. Curator: Indeed. And remember, that the arrangement is the arrangement. The mountain stands simply and complexly itself!