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Monday
Dec052016

Ferdinand Hodler: Parallelism

Ferdinand Hodler - Night (Die Nacht) - 1889-1890 - Oil on canvas - Museum of Fine Arts, Berne. (click photo for larger image)Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) was one of the best-known Swiss painters of the nineteenth century. His early works were portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings in a realistic style. Later, he adopted a personal form of symbolism he called “Parallelism” - which emphasized the symmetry and rhythm he believed formed the basis of human society.

The work featured here, Night, marks Holdler’s turn toward symbolist imagery. It depicts several recumbent figures, all of them relaxed in sleep except for an agitated man who is menaced by a figure shrouded in black, which Hodler intended as a symbol of death.

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