Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918)

Hodler and the landscape

Ferdinand HodlerThe Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau in the moonlight© Swiss Institute for art studies, Zurich

Hodler's landscapes express the same close relationship with the countryside of Switzerland untouched by any human presence. He mainly painted Swiss landscapes, taking numerous subjects: famous, awe-inspiring mountains like the Eiger, the Mönch and the Jungfrau, lakes like Lake Thun and Lake Geneva, as well as trees, rocks, rock falls, forest streams and glaciers.

Passionate about the "substance of nature" since his adolescence, as he himself admitted, Hodler would regularly go to study the location of his chosen landscape, later reproducing it in his studio where his respect for topographical detail was combined with his desire for formal stylisation, making him one of the greatest landscape artists ever.

Ferdinand HodlerReflections on Lake Thun© Swiss Institute for art studies, Zurich

In a way, for Hodler, landscape painting had a philosophical dimension. He felt that a painter had to reveal the laws of nature and of the world through a patient, structured study of the location. This order, relying on "parallelism", repetition and symmetry, was more easily perceived in some themes, such as reflections on water, which allow a double axis symmetry, both horizontal and vertical, to be developed.

Ferdinand HodlerLake Geneva at sunset© Swiss Institute for art studies, Zurich

According to Hodler, landscape painting should "show us nature made greater and simpler, pared of all insignificant details". The Hodlerian landscape is characterised by the elimination of all that is incidental and irregular, by the suppression of aerial and chromatic perspective. These are replaced by a monumental, decorative composition culminating in his final paintings of Lake Geneva which prefigure abstract art.

This highlighting of a natural order should not stifle, but on the contrary should intensify the emotion experienced before the splendour of nature, and this for Hodler, was the source of the creative act. Consequently, nature was both a mirror for the artist, and the reflection of a cosmic feeling of fusion with the world, but also a reflection of solitude.

Helmut FederleNothing inside© ADAGP, Paris 2007

In order to create a dialogue between the work of Hodler and the art of today, the Musée d'Orsay has invited Helmut Federle, an artist who acknowledges Hodler as one of his main sources, to display four of his works in the exhibition as a counterpoint to Hodler's alpine landscapes.

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