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A native of Berne, Switzerland, Ferdinand Hodler spent much of 1902 in the Oberland painting mountainous landscapes. This work shows the Kien Valley looking towards the Bluemlisalp, a massif at the far end of the valley. During his artistic retreats in the Alps – not so different, in spirit, from Gauguin’s travels in the South Seas or Van Gogh’s stay in Arles – Hodler aimed to paint what he called the ‘essential structure’ of the landscape, ‘liberated from all unimportant details’. This picture – with its insistent verticality, defined fields of colour and ornamental decorative clouds – conveys a sense of timelessness, harmony and meditative stillness. ‘The landscape must have a character’, Hodler wrote, ‘express a passion or an emotion’.
Title
The Kien Valley with the Bluemlisalp Massif
Date
1902
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 102 x W 70.7 cm
Accession number
NG6695
Acquisition method
bought with the support of the National Gallery Trust, the Athene Foundation in memory of Asbjørn Lunde, the Estate of Mr David Leslie Medd, OBE, and other bequests, 2022
Work type
Painting
