Der Erlkönig am Magdalensberg presents a dreamlike, unsettling landscape marked by vast, glowing orange clouds dominating the sky. In the foreground, a pool is cut off abruptly, as if surrealistically transplanted onto the mountainous terrain, while a lone figure on horseback traverses the distance. The title references Goethe's 1782 Der Erlkönig, a ballad in which a father desperately races to save his fevered son, who is haunted by the sinister figure of the Erlking—a spirit who lures children to their death. The poem's tension between the supernatural and psychological mirrors the painting's eerie atmosphere.

The inclusion of Magdalensberg, a mountain in Austria known for its ancient Roman artifacts, further anchors the work in a historical and mythic space, while the disjointed elements—like the severed pool—fracture the setting's coherence. The lone rider echoes the ghostly presence of Goethe's specter, while the unnatural colors and isolation conjure both Romantic sublimity and contemporary unease. As in much of Philip Mueller’s work, myth, landscape, and history collapse into a space where past grandeur and present tension coexist, blurring the line between folklore and personal mythology.