Existing comment:
Femme en Extase (Woman in Ecstasy)
Giulia Leonardi
This painting of the Italian dancer and guitarist Giulia Leonardi is a prime example of Ferdinand Hodler's distinctive combination of realism and abstraction. It it both a faithfully observed depiction of a specific person and a symbolic representation of the emotional state of ecstasy. The nonspecific drapery and gold background cast Leonardi in a timeless, universal light. Fascinated by new theories of emotional expression through movement, Hodler chose to position her as if she were rotating in space, and the optical vibration created by the contrasting blue and red drapery enhances this sense of movement. Hodler frequently used the gesture of both hands resting near the heart to signify the experience of deep feeling. Unimpeded by ladylike decorum or the precision of ballet, the earthly freedom with which Leonardi moves her body would have struck contemporaries as being remarkably uninhibited and sensuous -- appropriate characteristics for an embodiment of ecstasy.
Federinand Hodler, 1911 |