Portrait of General Ulrich Wille 1915

Ferdinand Hodler painted this portrait of General Ulrich Wille using brushstrokes that almost look like they were sculpted. I imagine Hodler standing there, really looking, trying to figure out how to get the weight and shape of the General’s head, the cut of his uniform just right. I see him stepping back, squinting, then going in again with a loaded brush, smearing and building. The paint is applied pretty thickly, especially around the face, with these almost topographic ridges of color. I love how the greens and blues get all mixed up in the hair and around the jawline. It’s not just about likeness; it’s about the physical stuff of paint bringing a person into being. That dark outline around the profile makes me think of other painters, like Kirchner, and how they were all grappling with similar problems of representation, abstraction, and expression. It's like they're all in conversation, pushing and pulling at the edges of what painting can do. Hodler's painting feels both solid and fleeting, a testament to how we can capture something real, but never quite pin it down.