Anton Reckziegel’s Vevey – Ligne du Simplon. Centre d’excursions, created in 1911, presents the Swiss lakeside town as both a destination and a point of departure. Beneath the emphatic lettering “VEVEY (SUISSE)”, Lac Léman opens across the lower half of the composition, its blue water animated by boats and delicate ripples. Vevey’s clustered buildings occupy the green shore, while successive hills and white-capped Alpine peaks draw the eye into the distance. Curving railway lines thread through the landscape, turning geography into an enticing network of possible journeys.

The poster belongs to a period of rapid growth in Swiss tourism, when railways made Alpine scenery increasingly accessible to international visitors. Its reference to the Simplon line situates Vevey within that expanding culture of modern travel and outdoor leisure: the town is promoted not simply for its own attractions, but as a “centre d’excursions”, a convenient gateway to the lake, mountains and surrounding countryside. Reckziegel, an Austrian landscape painter who also worked as a cartographer, was particularly well suited to this task. His command of scenic composition is joined here by a mapmaker’s interest in routes, connections and the legibility of terrain.

A closer look

The design unfolds vertically from destination name to panoramic prospect. Large, shadowed block capitals establish Vevey at the top, while the wording “LIGNE DU SIMPLON CENTRE D’EXCURSIONS” supplies the practical railway message. Rather than separating information from illustration, Reckziegel makes the landscape itself carry the argument: tracks and pathways curve through the hills, linking the town below with the higher ground beyond. The viewer’s gaze follows these lines much as a traveller might follow a route across a map.

Cool blues and greens dominate, but they are enlivened by crisp white mountain summits and concentrated red accents. Bright light across the lake gives the water a lightly shimmering surface, while softer tonal changes model the rolling land around Vevey. In the middle distance, individual rooftops, streets and groups of trees bring density to the townscape without interrupting the broad sweep towards the Alps. The differing scales are carefully controlled: small boats suggest the breadth of Lac Léman, while the sharply rising peaks establish the drama of the wider setting.

Several details reward a more lingering view. The wording “CHEMINS DE FER ÉLECTRIQUES VEVEYSAINS” appears in smaller type near the lower left, adding another layer to the poster’s transport narrative. A circular red emblem provides a compact graphic counterpoint to the expansive landscape, while a cluster of flowers at the lower right softens the foreground edge. These decorative elements do not compete with the central view; instead, they frame a carefully organised progression from lakeshore activity to distant mountain height.

Context and significance

Early twentieth-century railway posters had to make complex ideas immediately intelligible: a place, a transport service and the promise of an experience. Reckziegel achieves this through bold typography, clearly separated areas of colour and an unusually comprehensive view of the region. Vevey appears at once cultured and close to nature, settled yet connected to more adventurous terrain. The absence of a dominant human figure is significant to the poster’s effect: the landscape and its routes become the protagonists, leaving prospective travellers to imagine themselves moving through them.

Made during the Belle Époque, the design reflects confidence in rail travel as a means of opening landscapes to pleasure and exploration. Yet its appeal lies in more than period optimism. The balance between cartographic clarity and romantic panorama gives this poster its distinctive character: Vevey is rendered not as an isolated beauty spot, but as the centre of an entire geography of excursions.

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This artwork is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The work is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present an art print without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas art and explore the differences between my different finishes.