In the clouds. Dents du Midi. May 2025. Chesières. Villars-sur-Ollon. 10.5x36 cm

In the Clouds. Dents du Midi. May 2025. Chesières

This original plein-air oil painting was created in Chesières, in the commune of Ollon, Vaud, Switzerland, in May 2025. Painted directly outdoors, the work captures the Dents du Midi almost completely absorbed by cloud, mist and changing mountain light.

Rather than presenting the famous Alpine peaks in sharp detail, the painting records a fleeting atmospheric moment. The mountains appear only briefly through shifting layers of cloud, emerging and disappearing as weather transforms the landscape from one minute to the next.

The panoramic format emphasizes the vast horizontal movement of the atmosphere. Broad passages of pale blue, silver-grey and soft lavender stretch across the composition, creating a sense of openness and distance. The eye follows the cloud formations as they drift across the horizon, obscuring and revealing fragments of the mountain range.

The title In the Clouds reflects the central experience of the scene. The Dents du Midi seem suspended within the weather itself. Cloud becomes inseparable from mountain, softening contours and dissolving the boundary between earth and sky.

The painting is built through restrained yet expressive brushwork. Thick layers of oil paint create subtle variations of texture and light, while the simplified forms allow atmosphere to become the true subject. The mountains are sensed rather than fully seen, inviting the viewer to experience the uncertainty and beauty of changing alpine weather.

Seen from Chesières, the Dents du Midi often dominate the southern horizon. On certain days, however, clouds and mountain mist transform the familiar silhouette into something almost immaterial. In this painting, the peaks become part of a larger study of visibility, distance and atmosphere.

On this spring day, cloud and mountain existed in perfect balance. The painting preserves a brief encounter with a landscape suspended between revelation and concealment, where weather became more important than geography.

Created during a single plein-air painting session, this work belongs to my ongoing series dedicated to the Alps and the landscapes of the canton of Vaud. Each painting records a direct experience of place, season and atmosphere observed outdoors in nature.

Original plein-air oil painting by Olga Tacan.

Location: Chesières, Ollon, Vaud, Switzerland
Subject: Dents du Midi emerging through cloud and mist
Region: Vaud Alps, Switzerland
Medium: Oil painting
Date painted: May 2025

Oil on paper

Plain air painting

Size 10.5 cm x 36 cm

Size with passé-partout  35x60 cm 

Date: May 2025

Location: Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland