Ferdinand Hodler was interested in painting from an early age as he took over the studio of his father-in-law; the decorative painter Gottlieb Schüpbach; at the age of twelve. Ferdinand Hodler is the Swiss painter who most marked the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century through several artistic periods. His first paintings were directly from the Swiss realism then he saw his work recognized when he decided to turn to Symbolism. From 1890 onwards, he turned to landscapes where his paintings of lakes and mountain ranges symbolize eternity. Finally, he moved towards Expressionism at the end of the 19th century, using coloured and geometric forms where his most famous paintings depict characters from daily life, such as "The Bucheron" exhibited at the Museum of Orsay.