Grindelwald Glacier

Wilhelmina Barns-Graham visited Switzerland in 1948 and spent some time sketching the Grindelwald Glacier, under the north face of the Eiger. Impressed by its immense beauty and presence, she produced a series of glacier paintings on her return. She later wrote: 'This likeness to glass and transparency, combined with solid rough ridges made me wish to combine in a work all angles at once, from above, through, and all round, as a bird flies, a total experience.'