The Golden Reindeer

About this work

A reindeer stands still in a snowy birch forest at night. Its great antlers are laid in gold leaf, and an Art Nouveau arch of fir branches and fine gold lines frames it like a window. The palette is midnight blue, cream and gold. Snowflakes catch the light as they drift down. It feels festive, yet there is not a single bauble in sight.

Alphonse Mucha, the Czech artist who shaped the look of Art Nouveau in Paris in the 1890s, often set his figures inside arches, halos and frames of plants and fine line. This work borrows that framing for a winter scene. It is Mucha-inspired, not a copy of any poster. The reindeer has its own long place in Christmas tradition. Reindeer have been herded in the far north of Europe for centuries, and since the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas appeared in 1823, they have pulled the Christmas sleigh across the night sky.

Because it is about winter rather than one day, it can stay up from the first frost until spring. Hang it in a living room, a hallway or a child's room, on white, pale grey or deep blue walls. Pair it with Golden Christmas Eve and Snow Lanterns from the Winter Night in Gold set. At 300 dpi it prints sharply to roughly 75 cm on the long edge.