Here's the Matterhorn in all its majesty. It's summer 2017. The weather forecast calls for violent thunderstorms around Zermatt. Driven by the urgent need to capture the King of the Alps in his immaculate splendor, I hurry to reach this valley. Alone in the boot of my car, I wait for the miracle to happen. Dawn breaks. It's there. In the silence, he emerges from the darkness and shows me his beauty. I marvel at this royal pyramid, without a cloud to disturb the view. It is adorned with a thin layer of snow that accentuates its relief.

The ridges of the Matterhorn, the Furgg and the Hörnli, mark the separation between the east and north faces. The Zmutt, with its snow-free nose, rips through the horizon to reveal its splendour to the world.

This is an exceptional photograph, because today, summer no longer offers us snow at low altitudes. These rare conditions breathe life into this work. My inspiration for this painting of the Matterhorn came from Vincent Munier, the animal portraitist. I tried to borrow the pure atmosphere he captures in his pictures. That's the effect I want to reproduce in my work. This portrait of the Matterhorn, in its white coat, seems to have been drawn in Indian ink. That's the magic of photography. Sparkling with beauty, the Matterhorn dominates the skies just as it captivates our hearts.