Ferdinand Hodler Auction Prices and Value Guide

Ferdinand Hodler auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 1,154 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.

Ferdinand Hodler auction prices: quick answer

Ferdinand Hodler auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.

Artist
Ferdinand Hodler
Source records
1,154
Market update
2026-02-06

Artist context

About Ferdinand Hodler

Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) was a Swiss painter widely regarded as one of Switzerland's most important artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in Bern and active primarily in Geneva, Hodler began his career painting portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes in a realist mode. Around the 1890s he developed a highly personal approach to Symbolism, which he termed "parallelism" — a compositional principle built on rhythmic repetition, symmetry, and the expressive arrangement of figures. His large-scale figure compositions, such as mural commissions and allegorical canvases, brought him international recognition, while his landscapes of Swiss lakes and Alpine peaks remain among the most iconic images in Swiss art. Hodler's work bridges nineteenth-century realism and early modernist abstraction, making him a pivotal figure in European painting. His paintings are held by major museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Kunstmuseum Bern, and the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva.

SymbolismParallelismRealism (early period)oil paintingwatercolorpastelfrescolandscapes (Swiss Alps, lakes)portraitsfigure compositions

Common works and media

Hodler's auction and appraisal profile spans oil paintings on canvas, large-scale mural and fresco commissions, watercolors, pastels, gouaches, and ink or pencil drawings. Landscape subjects — particularly views of Lake Thun, the Matterhorn, and Mont Blanc — recur throughout his career. Portraits and allegorical figure compositions are also well represented. Prints and reproductive engravings after his major compositions appear periodically at auction. Monumental decorative commissions for public buildings form a distinct but rarely traded category, with preparatory studies and oil sketches being the more commonly encountered versions.

Market and appraisal context

Ferdinand Hodler commands a deep and internationally active auction market. Appraisily's records index 566 lots with 334 carrying realized prices, spanning sales from June 1993 through April 2026. The price distribution is exceptionally wide: the recorded minimum is $50 (likely prints or minor works on paper), the median sits at $8,500, the 75th percentile reaches $109,320, and the recorded maximum is $10,912,000 — reflecting blue-chip oil paintings of major scale. Liquidity remains strong, with 21 lots appearing in the most recent 12-month window and 29 in the prior year, indicating consistent supply and demand. The dominant venues are Koller Auctions (Zurich), Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer (Geneva/Lausanne), and Schuler Auktionen, all Swiss-based, with Christie's and Sotheby's also appearing among the top-ten houses by volume. The standout recent result is CHF 6,400,000 at Koller in November 2024, preceded by CHF 175,000 and CHF 120,000 results at the same house in November 2025. Works on paper and smaller gouache or drawing studies trade regularly between CHF 2,200 and CHF 10,000 at Artcurial and Geneva-area houses, making that segment accessible to mid-range collectors. Posters and exhibition-related ephemera (e.g., the original Ausstellungsplakat at Jeschke Jádi, October 2025) represent the entry tier.

Auction categories and appraisal factors

Common auction categories

  • 19th Century European Paintings
  • Swiss Art
  • Symbolist Art
  • Impressionist and Modern Art
  • Works on Paper

Value drivers

  1. Medium: oil paintings on canvas command the strongest results; works on paper (drawings, watercolors, pastels) are more accessible
  2. Subject: monumental figure compositions and major Alpine landscapes are the most sought-after categories
  3. Provenance: works with documented exhibition history or inclusion in the artist's catalogue raisonné carry a premium
  4. Authenticity: the FH monogram (ligature) is documented; attribution should reference the catalogue raisonné
  5. Period: late Symbolist/parallelism works are generally more valued than early realist portraits and genre scenes
  6. Medium: oil on canvas commands the strongest prices (CHF 120,000–6,400,000 at Koller); gouache and works on paper trade in the CHF 2,200–10,000 range for studies, with important watercolors or pastels reaching CHF 45,000–149,000

Appraisal caveats

  • The RKD records over 1,470 image entries for Hodler, but not all are autograph works; some may be attributed or studio pieces.
  • No public auction records were included in this source pack; specific price ranges and recent sale comparables should be drawn from live auction databases.
  • Getty ULAN was unavailable (503) at collection time; identity cross-check against ULAN 500027184 should be retried.
  • The auction-record dataset includes 566 lots but only 334 with realized prices; unsold or buy-in results (priceRealised: null) may distort apparent market breadth and should be factored into any liquidity analysis.

Evidence

Sources for artist context

This source-grounded artist context passed Appraisily's promotion threshold: high confidence, strong sources.

Source-grounded artist Markdown

Data basis

This page is built from Appraisily's public auction market index. Private transactions, incomplete sale feeds, and attribution changes may not be fully represented.

LLM-readable Markdown summary for Ferdinand Hodler

LLM summary index · LLM full index

Artist value FAQ

How much is Ferdinand Hodler worth?

Comparable public auction sales are the best starting point, but final value depends on the specific artwork, condition, size, medium, provenance, and attribution confidence.

Can Appraisily value my Ferdinand Hodler artwork?

Yes. Appraisily can review photos, dimensions, signatures, condition, provenance, and comparable market data to prepare a current valuation.