University of Alberta Museums Search

A major landscape piece. Paint application is thin and loosely applied with scraffito. The ground is used as a final layer in white areas. This is a highly naturalistic painting painted in a loose impressionistic fashion. The accuracy of the rendition, in terms of the complexity of the structure and three-dimensionality of the mountains, is uncanny. He seems to have achieved a feeling of atmospheric space and perspective as well. The red glow on the tops of the peaks is peculiar to the high mountain ranges close to the continental divide. Haukaness captures a typical clear, summer's evening light. Haukaness uses a compositional approach in this painting that is seen in other works which feature a strong centrality. The peak known as the Tower of Babel is situated very close to the centre of this composition. The entire landscape is realistically rendered and it would be possible to pinpoint the location accurately. It is likely to have been painted en plein air.