Q131586362

Dated to 1887, this second canvas from that transitional year joins the earlier 1887 entry in documenting Hodler's threshold period. He was actively preparing the compositional innovations that would culminate in Night, and the multiple canvases of this year reflect an artist testing ideas across different subjects and scales. The late 1880s were when Hodler's reading in Symbolist philosophy — including his engagement with Schopenhauer's ideas about music and rhythm as paths to universal truth — began actively shaping his formal decisions. The two 1887 canvases together provide a nuanced picture of this searching phase: not stylistically uniform, but driven by a consistent underlying philosophical interrogation of what painting could mean beyond observed appearances.

The 1887 technique shares the features of its companion canvas: academic foundations with increasing linear assertiveness and occasional departures from strict observational colour. The compositional thinking is already seeking a geometry that serves expressive intent rather than pictorial convention. The paint handling is careful, not spontaneous, reflecting the philosophical deliberateness that characterized Hodler throughout his career.