The Grammont in the morning sun 1917

Ferdinand Hodler made 'The Grammont in the Morning Sun' using oil paint to try and capture a fleeting moment in time. What's fascinating here is his process: the way he's laying down the color in these rhythmic, almost geometric patches. It’s like he’s building the mountain and its reflection, piece by piece. Look at the mountain itself, how the greens and yellows are sharply edged with deep blues, creating this sense of form and depth. You can almost feel the cool shadows contrasting with the warmth of the sun. Notice the blue in the water and the sky, its almost like looking at the sky twice. Hodler was interested in these kinds of parallel structures, which he called 'Parallelism' and we can see it so clearly here. It puts me in mind of someone like Cezanne, obsessed with the structure of the landscape, or maybe even some of the early German Expressionists, thinking about how color and form can convey emotion and experience. Ultimately the painting is like the moment it depicts; always changing depending on the light.