Silence of the Evening 1904

Ferdinand Hodler made this quiet painting, probably in oil, with a limited range of greens, creams, and blues. See how the marks are kind of blocky and simplified? It's like he’s figuring out how to make a figure-ground relationship using as few moves as possible. I really appreciate how the green of the bush presses forward, flattened against the figure, almost as if it wants to be her dress. And her dress! It’s like a soft, denim jumpsuit, cinched at the waist, a far cry from the stiff formality of the time. Hodler isn't trying to hide the way the paint pushes and pulls, the subtle gestures that built up the image. There’s something kind of radical in the way he sets down colors and forms with this casual honesty. It reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker's paintings, where she’s also trying to work out how a painting can be both solid and somehow fleeting. Art is a conversation, right?