Caribou in the Mountains

"Caribou in the Mountains" by Hermann Herzog is a dramatic 1878 landscape painting that captures a herd of caribou navigating a snow-covered mountain pass under a dark, looming sky. Herzog’s mastery in depicting light on icy terrain, combined with the rugged rock formations and distant fjords, conveys both harsh isolation and wild majesty. The lead stag, slightly ahead of the group, adds a sense of purposeful motion and narrative to the otherwise still scene. This work showcases Herzog’s signature ability to merge natural realism with romantic grandeur.