Timeless Swiss landscape

MANILA, Philippines - As a Filipino visual artist, I am so proud and honored to be a part of this anniversary celebration of the 150 years (1862-2012) of diplomatic relations between Philippines and Switzerland.

The first time I went to Switzerland in 1994, I stayed for three months as an artist-in-residence on scholarship for the Internationale Austauch Ateliers Region Basel under the sponsorship of the well-known Christoph Merian Stiftung of Switzerland.

Although I sold a few pieces, I kept most of the paintings I made because I felt that my efforts to capture the essence of Switzerland were woefully inadequate. I found the countryside too picture-perfect, like a postcard on overdrive. With its verdant pastures, majestic mountains and rivers that flow immaculately into beautiful villages, I was hard pressed trying to incorporate such beauty into a distinct essence and identity compared to its neighboring European countries.

The home of William Tell has no natural frontiers, no common language, no unifying culture and no dominant religion.

When I went back in 2004, I knew what I should be looking for. Switzerland was not just about the emblematic Edelweiss, the snow-tipped Alpine peak not the majestic Matterhorn. It is the essential facet of the Swiss character: its ingenuity and its ability to create new innovations for the whole world to feel its presence. Think of the 19th-century skilled watchmakers who made names for themselves like Rolex, Rado and Ebel. The emmentaler better known as Swiss cheese and its trademark holes, its flavor enriched by the summer-growing Alpine herbs that are eaten by the cows from whence the cheese’s milk originates from. Urs Graf developed etching and Geneva was the place in 1990 where the Internet was born. Think of the Swatch watch, the Smart car and all the Nestlé chocolates Filipinos have devoured over the decades. Milk chocolate was invented in Switzerland and Henri Nestle, founder of Nestle, was Swiss.

I can go on and on but the truth is, it is that combination of neutrality, tolerance and ingenuity that Switzerland has that was the essence I was looking for all along. That combination has attracted famous people and celebrities to choose Switzerland as their home. Albert Einstein lived there even before he published his famous Theory of Relativity. My favorite artists and performers — Audrey Hepburn, Charlie Chaplin, Paul Klee, Alberto Giacometti and Jean Tinguely — were all residents of Switzerland.

I feel so fortunate to show in my paintings my impressions of this marvelous country where I learned how to make high-grade paper by hand at the Easier Papiermuhle in Basel. Switzerland is all about precision, rectitude and being trustworthy. After all, why else has the Pope picked the Swiss for his personal guard for centuries?

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Presented by the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Swiss Embassy Manila, and The Ayala Museum, and with the support from UBS, “Timeless Swiss Landscape” is on view from May 28 until June 28 at The Ayala Museum, Makati City.