The Sacred Hour

Ferdinand Hodler was one of the outstanding artists not only of the Swiss, but also of European art. The painter contributed significant works both to the art flow of Art Nouveau and symbolism. Here and there he repeatedly and persistently expressed his artistic-aesthetic maxim that art must depict the truth. The artist achieves this, according to Hodler, by revealing the "order inherent in things".

All this unites Hodler's 1902 painting "The Holy Hour". The painting painted on canvas with oil has both symbolist and Art Nouveau elements. Above all, the painting is the masterful expression of Hodler's idea of ??the world's inherent order and the unity between man and nature. The painting is part of a series that the artist created at the beginning of the 20th century under the title "Holy Hour". The pictures show one, two or even more women sitting on a grass bank and seemingly captivated by the beauty of nature surrounded by plants and flowers.

In "The Holy Hour" there are two women who put Hodler in the picture center. In doing so, Hodler places less importance on naturalness and realistic illustration in presentation and composition. The women sit contrived side by side, as if they wanted to pose for the artist. In addition, Hodler arranges them in mirror symmetry. The other pictorial elements are also removed from reality. The background and the seat of the women are hinted at most, while the red flowers around the figures form a frame in the frame. The contrast between the garish blue dresses of the women and the room elements depicted in warm yellows and reds is also charming.

With this and the other images from the famous "Holy Hour" series, Hodler picks up on a traditional subject, namely the holy Madonna in nature, immortalized, for example, by the Renaissance artist Raphael in Madonna in the Green. However, there is nothing religious about the subject at Hodler. The Swiss understands the spiritual in the philosophical-metaphysical sense. His picture is the representation of the "imperishable nature" and its unity with man.