Gezicht op de Hallstätter Gletscher before 1889

Here we see 'Gezicht op de Hallstätter Gletscher' by Friedrich Simony. It's a black and white work whose dominant visual experience is shaped by contrasting textures and tonal gradations. The composition divides the landscape into distinct zones: the rugged, detailed surfaces of the rocks on the right, the stark, smooth glacial expanse on the left, and the soft, atmospheric sky above. This arrangement invites a reading of nature through opposing elements – solid versus fluid, light against dark – which can be understood through a structuralist lens, reflecting binary oppositions inherent in how we perceive and categorize the natural world. Simony’s choice of monochrome further emphasizes these contrasts, stripping away the distraction of color to focus on the play of light and shadow. The starkness of the image destabilizes any romantic idealization, presenting nature not as a harmonious whole, but as a composition of conflicting forces.