Bern - Loetschberg - Simplon Suisse Circa 1950

This striking Swiss travel poster by Surbek, created around 1950, promotes the legendary Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon railway route, one of the great Alpine crossings linking northern and southern Europe. More than a simple advertisement, the work functions as a poetic interpretation of the Swiss landscape, where transportation, nature, and national identity merge into a single visual statement.

The composition is built around a sweeping mountain panorama, rendered in expressive, almost calligraphic brushstrokes. Dark, gestural lines carve out valleys, slopes, and peaks, while softer washes of grey and pale blue suggest distance and atmosphere. In the foreground, luminous yellow-green fields and trees introduce warmth and immediacy, guiding the viewer’s eye from cultivated land toward the monumental Alpine backdrop. The contrast between the vivid foreground and the subdued, mineral tones of the mountains gives the image both depth and rhythm.

Rather than emphasizing trains or modern engineering, Surbek focuses on the emotional experience of the journey: vastness, light, and the harmony between human presence and nature. The railway route becomes implicit, woven into the landscape itself, evoking movement through space rather than depicting it literally. This approach reflects a postwar sensibility in Swiss graphic art, where travel posters often sought to convey mood and identity as much as destination.

Surbek was known for a painterly style that bridged fine art and graphic design, and this poster demonstrates that balance clearly. The loose, expressive handling of ink and color aligns the work with modernist tendencies of the mid-20th century, while the clear typography anchors it firmly in the tradition of travel advertising.

Today, this poster stands as a refined example of Swiss poster art from the postwar period, celebrating the Alpine landscape not just as scenery, but as a cultural symbol. It captures the Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon route as an invitation to traverse one of Europe’s most dramatic corridors, where geography itself becomes the destination.

Original Poster

Tourism - Railway - Switzerland

Printed by Orell Fussli in Zurich

Good condition