Ferdinand Hodler et le Leman

Commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of his death: Lake Geneva, the famous Swiss painter's favorite motif.
The Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) is one of classic modernism's most famous artists. One of the major motifs of his landscapes is Lake Geneva, which Hodler depicted more than 130 times over a period of around 45 years. Now, for the first time, it is the focus of an exhibition. Whether in Geneva harbor, in Lausanne, Chexbres, Caux, Chamby, or Pully, Hodler was always fascinated with the view of the lake and the many possible ways there were to portray its mountains, water, and sky. From the windows of his apartment on the Quai du Mont-Blanc in Geneva, he also produced his last planetary landscapes, whose brilliant colors and stylized forms further abstracted the motif. With essays and thematic texts introducing individual groups of works, this volume examines the significance of Lake Geneva in Hodler's oeuvre from a variety of perspectives.