# Ferdinand Hodler artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/ferdinand-hodler/ Profile generated: 2026-05-02T11:33:08.860Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1853-03-14 - Death date: 1918-05-19 - Nationality: Swiss - Movements: Symbolism, Parallelism, Realism (early period) - Common media: oil painting, watercolor, pastel, fresco, gouache, drawing, monumental/mural painting ## 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. ## 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-house-backed market evidence 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. ### Appraisal notes An appraisal of a Hodler work should begin by establishing medium, dimensions, signature or monogram (the documented FH ligature), and condition. The catalogue raisonné is the primary authority for attribution. The source pack's 566-lot record set, with 334 priced results, provides a robust comparable-sale pool. Appraisily would filter comparables by medium (oil on canvas vs. gouache vs. drawing), subject (Alpine landscape, figure composition, portrait, study), dimensions, date of execution, and provenance history. Provenance chains that include museum exhibitions or major Swiss private collections materially affect value. For oil paintings, the CHF 120,000–CHF 6,400,000 range observed at Koller Auctions between 2023 and 2024 anchors the upper market; for works on paper, the CHF 2,200–CHF 45,000 range at Artcurial and Koller is more representative. Condition reports should note any lining, overpainting, or craquelure, as Hodler's large canvases are susceptible to structural issues. Currency denomination matters: the majority of results are in CHF, with some EUR and USD entries, so exchange-rate adjustments are needed for non-Swiss comparables. ### Valuation factors - 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 - Subject: monumental figure compositions and large Alpine landscapes are the most sought-after; preparatory studies for known compositions (e.g., the Unanimité study at Geneva Encheres, CHF 4,000) are valued for their documentary importance - Scale: large-format canvases associated with mural or decorative commissions carry substantial premiums over easel-size works - Period: late Symbolist/Parallelism works (c. 1890–1918) are generally more valued than early realist portraits and genre scenes - Provenance: documented exhibition history, inclusion in the catalogue raisonné, or ownership by notable Swiss collections materially increases value - Authenticity: the FH monogram (ligature) is documented; works lacking the monogram or with uncertain attribution should reference the catalogue raisonné and may require expert committee review - Condition: large canvases from the 1890s–1910s may show lining, overpainting, or craquelure; condition reports from major houses are a positive signal - Currency: the majority of auction results are denominated in CHF at Swiss houses; EUR and USD results require conversion for cross-market comparison ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - 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. - The recorded maximum of $10,912,000 likely reflects a single exceptional sale and is not representative of the typical range for Hodler works at auction. - Multiple recent lots at Schuler Auktionen (March–April 2026) show null price results, indicating possible buy-ins or pre-sale estimates not yet published; these should not be interpreted as failed sales without further verification. - Currency mix (CHF, EUR, USD) across houses means direct price comparisons require conversion; the dataset does not normalize to a single currency. - RKD records over 1,470 image entries for Hodler, not all of which are confirmed autograph works; some may be attributed, workshop, or reproductive pieces. - No condition reports, dimensions, or catalogue-raisonné numbers are included in the auction signals; appraisal comparables must be refined with these attributes at the time of valuation. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/ferdinand-hodler/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-3024-c-1d34a4ca47 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-3020-c-a2046b78d4 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-3043-c-b42f6e1011 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-3023-c-befd0007d2 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-3470-c-495422499b - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-362-c-58a4202b7a - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-1853-1918-240-c-06ba497dca - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-1853-1918-22-c-7b442168bc - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-1853-1918-228-c-eb77ebda18 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-1853-1918-etude-d-homme-au-bras-leve-pour-unanimite-gou-121-c-5be2b1bb03 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-swiss-1853-1918-gouache-relating-possibly-to-the-battle-of-marignano-metropolitan-museum-of-art-musee-d-orsay-collections-considered-1-of-switzerland-s-most-important-artists-of-the-19th-century-162-c-8ed4d67879 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-3159-c-354fdd8d0a - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-ferdinand-hodler-original-ausstellunsplakat-der-sechsten-ausstellung-der-ge-988-c-d8e5950de4 ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum, library authority, and scholarly sources with auction-house records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Ferdinand Hodler, identity data has been cross-referenced across the Library of Congress, VIAF, RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, and Wikidata. Auction comparables and market observations should be supplemented with live sale records at the time of appraisal. ## Sources - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50031263 - RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/38688 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Hodler - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q214564 - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/41848532/ - The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/2681 - Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500027184