Thunersee mit Stockhornkette

Ferdinand Hodler made an intensive study of the Alpine landscape of his Swiss homeland, and Lake Thun and the Stockhorn mountains appear frequently in his work. But what do we see here: a real or a felt landscape? For Hodler, landscape painting is not a pure depiction of nature but a process intimately connected to the artist’s emotional life.

This view of Lake Thun is clear and bright—with the gradations of the blue water and its reflection of the mountain range taking up almost two-thirds of the painting. Through the accentuation of the surface of the water, Holder’s composition takes on an idiosyncratic appearance, while his painting style simplifies the landscape and provides a subjective representation: the lake and mountain range are depicted as a vertically graded unit and completely deserted.

The picture’s evening mood, but also the absence of any figures, create a deep sense of peace and are exemplary of Hodler’s presentation of the Swiss Alps. Instead of copying this mountain landscape, he focuses on its atmosphere, which is determined as much by the viewer as by nature itself.