Later, he visited Dresden, Milan and Paris, where he came into contact with French landscape painting at the Exposition Universelle (1867) and visited the artists' colony at Barbizon. After his father's death, he settled permanently in Munich; becoming part of a circle of Swiss artists that included Arnold Böcklin and Otto Frölicher as well as the art historian, . In 1882, he made a lengthy visit to Italy. He generally made sketches en plein aire during the summer and turned them into paintings at his studio in the winter. One of his best known works "Rising Thunderstorm" was painted on commission by the government of Aargau and may be seen at the .