Four young men and three young women are sleeping outdoors, under black blankets. Night (1889-90) marks Hodler’s turn towards more Symbolist motifs. Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918), The Night (1889-90), oil on canvas, 116.5 × 299 cm, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Hodler’s painting The Boxer’s Procession was awarded a distinction at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889, his first major international recognition. The landscape background is very similar to others which he painted at this time, and remains thoroughly realist. Three women passing by are telling the miller what he should be doing, which is apparently quite different. At this point in the story, it is the miller who is being borne by the donkey, and his son who is driving the animal. The Miller, his Son and the Donkey (c 1888) is a delightful depiction of this classical fable or folk story of a miller and his son who are repeatedly corrected by others for their treatment of the donkey, in particular which of the pair should ride the animal. Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918), The Miller, his Son and the Donkey (c 1888), oil on canvas, dimensions not known, Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland. Hodler’s Portrait of Hélène Weiglé (1888) remains firmly rooted in his early style, but signs of his transition are starting to become apparent in the unconventional pose, and the separation of the figure from its surroundings. Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918), Portrait of Hélène Weiglé (1888), oil on canvas, 88.5 × 69.5 cm, Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt, Germany. All three of his partners modelled for his paintings, although not, as far as I can tell, simultaneously. He met his future second wife, Berthe Jacques (1868-1957), in 1894. Two years later, Hodler married Bertha Stucki, but they divorced in 1891. In 1887, Hodler and his partner Augustine Dupin (1852-1909) had a son. It was also a period of great change in his personal life. During the late 1880s, he started to develop his mature style, a form of Symbolism which he referred to as Parallelism. The first article in my series to commemorate the centenary of the death of the Swiss artist Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) showed some of his realist paintings from the early years of his career.
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