Lot Essay
Der Genfersee mit Mont Blanc bei Sonnenaufgang belongs to a series of over fifteen works painted when Hodler was forced by illness to remain in his flat at Quai de Mont Blanc in Geneva during the last few months before his death.
It shows the views from his room onto the bay of Geneva with Mont Blanc and the alps of Savoy in the clear and cold light of the early morning. "Das Arbeiten am frühen Morgen war ihm seit jeher vertraut; es lag darum nahe, dass er nach den langen Nächten, die er schlaflos im Stuhl sitzend verbrachte, die Darstellung einer Landschaft im Zwielicht der Dämmerung wieder aufgriff. Die so entstandenen Bilder gehören zum Eindrucksvollsten, das Hodler überhaupt geschaffen hat." (Lukas Gloor, Ferdinand Hodler, Landschaften, Exhibition catalogue, Zurich, 1987, p. 110.)
In his later works, Hodler returned to his early depictions of lakes and mountains though now simplifying the forms, eliminating certain details and only using simple colour tones in order to achieve directness of effect: "These landscapes are the most important part of Hodler's extensive work. If Cézanne and Van Gogh have given us a particular image of the landscape of southern Europe which borders on the Mediterranean and Edvard Munch of the coastal landscape of the North, Hodler has contributed the definitive image of the Alps. No other painting of Alpine scenery is comparable". (Hugo Wagner, Ferdinand Hodler, exhib. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1971,
p. 19.)
It shows the views from his room onto the bay of Geneva with Mont Blanc and the alps of Savoy in the clear and cold light of the early morning. "Das Arbeiten am frühen Morgen war ihm seit jeher vertraut; es lag darum nahe, dass er nach den langen Nächten, die er schlaflos im Stuhl sitzend verbrachte, die Darstellung einer Landschaft im Zwielicht der Dämmerung wieder aufgriff. Die so entstandenen Bilder gehören zum Eindrucksvollsten, das Hodler überhaupt geschaffen hat." (Lukas Gloor, Ferdinand Hodler, Landschaften, Exhibition catalogue, Zurich, 1987, p. 110.)
In his later works, Hodler returned to his early depictions of lakes and mountains though now simplifying the forms, eliminating certain details and only using simple colour tones in order to achieve directness of effect: "These landscapes are the most important part of Hodler's extensive work. If Cézanne and Van Gogh have given us a particular image of the landscape of southern Europe which borders on the Mediterranean and Edvard Munch of the coastal landscape of the North, Hodler has contributed the definitive image of the Alps. No other painting of Alpine scenery is comparable". (Hugo Wagner, Ferdinand Hodler, exhib. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1971,
p. 19.)