Hodler, Ferdinand (1853–1918)

Swiss painter. Deriving their flowing lines from art nouveau, his paintings of allegorical, historical, and mythological subjects relate him to the Symbolist movement. In their intensity of mood they prefigured expressionism. The huge mural Day about 1900 (Kunsthaus, Zürich) is typical.

Hodler was born in Berne and studied art in Geneva. He competed successfully for the decoration of the national museum in Zürich. Beginning as a portrait and landscape painter, he turned to historical themes and finally evolved a decorative and symbolic style, as in his Towards the Infinite, which made a great impression in his lifetime and caused him to be regarded as the most distinguished of the purely Swiss school.