Gabriel Loppé (1825-1913)

French painter, photographer and mountaineer, Gabriel Loppé is particularly known for his high altitude paintings and his shots of the Eiffel Tower, for which he became passionate at the end of his life. The striking Iron Tower is one of his best-known pictures and is part of the Musée d'Orsay collection. Self-taught, he became the first painter to paint at high altitude. Carrying his easel as close as possible to the crevasses and needles, Loppé faithfully and poetically retranscribed the landscapes of the summits.