For Max Pechstein the 1920s were years of difficulties and change. Only the friendship with his Swiss patron and collector Dr. Walter Minnich, which began in 1919, was a constant in the artist‘s life. Following his invitation, the artist spend a lot of time in Switzerland over the years from 1922 on. Our charcoal drawing also needs to be regarded from this perspective. "Even though my economic existence has been destroyed by inflation and my dealer‘s breach of trust and my marriage has been divorced, I still have my work [.]. Time and again he [Dr. Walter Minnich] urged me to lock up everything in Berlin and to be his guest in Montreux on Lake Geneva. A new companion in life helped me to get over post-war years disappointments[.]" (Quote after: Jürgen Schilling, Max Pechstein, ex. cat. Schloß Cappenberg, 1989, p. 180). During his sojourns in Switzerland the artist made illustrations of Alpine landscapes, in which he rendered immediate impressions in a spontaneous duct. [EH]