{"id":3568,"date":"2014-08-31T19:06:50","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T02:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chezarts.com\/?p=3568"},"modified":"2015-04-12T23:28:19","modified_gmt":"2015-04-13T06:28:19","slug":"images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chezmana.com\/?p=3568","title":{"rendered":"Images"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"View<\/a>

View from Mesocco Castle, © Chez Mana<\/p><\/div>
\nIn the summer of 2014, I developed a rare affinity for Switzerland. I was not attracted to Switzerland because it is a center for finance, or because it is clean, safe, and efficient. I saw beautiful mountains <\/a>and lakes<\/a>. On rainy days, I visited museums and got to know the work of the Swiss artists. My mind was flooded with images. As I traveled all around the country, I thought about how these images affect the viewer.<\/p>\n

When I could not see blue skies, I could find them in the paintings of Ferdinand Hodler.<\/a> He transported me to nature and confronted me with its power. <\/p>\n

\"Ferdinand<\/a>

Ferdinand Hodler, “Silvaplanersee,” 1907<\/p><\/div>\n

Hodler depicts the summits and calm blue lake with a directness that connects the viewer to the essence of the scene. The horizontal line of the lake shore evokes stability and calm while the vertical peaks suggest the power of nature. Hodler uses blue in his paintings to show transcendence and spirituality, and red to represent the energy of life.<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/a>

Robert Z\u00fcnd, “The Oak Forest,” 1882<\/p><\/div>
\nRobert Z\u00fcnd<\/a>, an earlier Swiss artist, was a master of naturalistic landscape painting. By contrast, Ferdinand Hodler\u2019s style evolved from a realistic to a symbolic one. Parallelism is an important organizing principle in Hodler’s work. The repetition of similar forms, intensifies our perception and shows the underlying unity of nature. His paintings explore the power of parallelism. <\/p>\n

Hodler considered \u201cThe Night\u201d to be his \u201cfirst painting\u201d because its unveiling was when his career really began. The painting was rejected in Geneva because of its sexual content but was accepted in Paris with huge success. The repeated forms of the sleeping men and women create a strong contrast to the lone figure (Hodler himself) who has been awakened by the spirit of Death.
\n

\"Ferdinand<\/a>

Ferdinand Hodler, “The Night, ” 1899-1890<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Although Z\u00fcnd creates beautiful landscapes, Hodler’s paintings move me more.
\nWhat is it about an image that makes you feel a certain way? This question has been discussed through the ages by philosophers and artists. Now science has given us new insights. <\/p>\n

Neurobiologist Semir Zeki<\/a> has done research showing that specific areas of the brain respond to beauty or ugliness in measurable ways. He has found the exact relationship between seeing an image and what happens next in the brain. <\/p>\n