Ferdinand Hodler

Ferdinand Hodler (1853 - 1918) was one of the best-known Swiss painters of the nineteenth century. His early works were portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings in a realistic style. Later, he adopted a personal form of symbolism which he called "parallelism". Hodler developed a style he called "parallelism" that emphasized the symmetry and rhythm he believed formed the basis of human society. Much of Hodler's work is in public collections in Switzerland. Other collections holding major works include the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago.