The Day, Ferdinand Hodler (1906)
While his early work bore opulent testimony to realism, in the 1890s Ferdinand Hodler took a turn towards Symbolism, a reaction to naturalism and materialism that was in the process of discovering its own mystico-spiritual motifs.
In his painting The Day Hodler strove to represent, through this symmetrical composition, the entire existence of all things – mineral, organic and spiritual. Day as it dawns is symbolized by five young women, whom the artist has arranged on his monumental, landscape-format canvas in conformity with a strict central symmetry. They embody the individual phases of daybreak, from its first gleam to full daylight. The increasing brightness is mirrored in the posture of the various figures, their limbs unfolding like the petals of a blossom. The curve of the horizon and bright band of clouds reflects the course of their movement, which reaches its climax in the central figure, representing spirituality.
