3715 - HODLER, FERDINAND (Bern 1853 – 1918 Geneva): Compositional Study for "View into Infinity"

HODLER, FERDINAND (Bern 1853 – 1918 Geneva): Compositional Study for "View into Infinity" Oil and pencil on paper Signed lower right 44x58 cm (sheet size), framed Provenance: Arthur Stoll Collection, Arlesheim; private collection, Switzerland. The work on offer was created around 1910–1915. Ferdinand Hodler is one of the best-known and most beloved Swiss artists. Raised in Bern, he moved to Geneva to study under the renowned painter Barthélemy Menn. There, he quickly evolved from a veduta painter into a pioneer of Symbolism, combining his meticulous skill in portraiture and landscape painting with freer, mythical, and psychoanalytic themes. One of his best-known works is “View into Infinity,” a monumental mural at the Kunsthaus Zürich that Hodler spent years perfecting. By this time, he was already an established artist who had received numerous awards. The painting depicts five young women dressed in blue, their arms extended slightly, their fingers almost touching one another. They symbolize the unity and perfection of the universe, in which infinity is also inherent. The Bernese artist produced numerous studies and copies of this work, many of which are now in the collections of major Swiss museums. The work offered here is undoubtedly one of the most detailed and sensitively executed study pieces, attesting to Hodler’s uniqueness in his time. Auction date: November 6, 2026, 6:00 p.m.