Jongen die zijn jas aantrekt 1908

Ferdinand Hodler made this etching, Jongen die zijn jas aantrekt, using a monochromatic palette to capture a fleeting moment. He’s really focused on line, and uses lots of hatching to build tone. You can really see Hodler’s hand in the texture. There’s a striking contrast between the smooth, almost polished look of the jacket, achieved through dense, parallel lines, and the rougher, more chaotic marks that define the ground. It's like he's playing with depth and space, but also with a kind of emotional intensity. The ground looks almost like its vibrating with some kind of energy, and it makes me think about the way we’re always in motion – never still. Hodler reminds me a little of Edvard Munch, not just in his use of stark contrasts, but also in his interest in capturing the psychological states of his figures. With Hodler, like with Munch, we're not just seeing a picture; we're feeling a mood.