Q131586144

Painted in 1890, this canvas marks the same pivotal moment as the first entry in this batch. Hodler was completing Night — the scandalous masterwork that would launch his international career — and in the adjacent months producing smaller canvases that demonstrate the Parallelism principle in compressed form. The 1890 works document the moment of crystallization: the formal doctrine is fully functional, the symbolic programme clear, the technical method honed. Canvases from this year have a focused, urgent quality, as though the painter recognized that he was working at a decisive threshold. The Kunsthaus Zürich's multiple 1890 acquisitions reflect the institution's later recognition that this was the hinge year of Hodler's career.

The 1890 canvases show Hodler's fully articulated Symbolist technique for the first time: strong outline, controlled colour symbolism, suppressed naturalistic space. The paint is applied with deliberate, directional strokes that reinforce the compositional structure. There is no tentative searching in these marks — each is placed with a confidence that reflects the concentrated preparation of the preceding years.