The Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918), using stylized, awkwardly gesturing figures in conjunction with simplified color, overcame realistic and impressionist conventions and infused his works with an intellectual, symbolic content.

Ferdinand Hodler was born in Bern on March 14, 1853. His childhood was characterized by poverty, sickness, and death. His father died soon after Hodler's birth and his mother died when he was 13; nine of her children likewise died early. Hodler's first training as an artist was in the workshop of his stepfather; in 1867 he began to study with a local landscape painter. In search of better training, he went to Geneva in 1871, where he painted signs while learning French; until 1876 he studied under Barthélémy Menn, who introduced him to the works of Camille Corot, Eugène Delacroix, and J. A. D. Ingres. Hodler was greatly impressed by the paintings of Hans Holbein the Younger...