The Lady of the Isenfluh 1902

Ferdinand Hodler made The Lady of the Isenfluh, likely in oil paint, in the early 20th century. It's not just a picture of a landscape; it's an experience, a way of seeing. The way Hodler builds up the paint is fascinating. Look at how he uses these visible brushstrokes to create texture and depth, especially in the green hills. It feels like he’s trying to capture the energy of the landscape itself, not just its appearance. The colors, too, are so alive, he's not aiming for realism so much as emotional impact. There’s this tension between representation and abstraction, like he's pushing the boundaries of what a landscape painting can be. Hodler reminds me a bit of Cezanne, in that he’s trying to find the underlying structure of the world. It’s an ongoing conversation about how we perceive and represent reality, and it's never quite settled.