The Persistence of Presence

National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, BiH
12 September - 10 October 2026
Exhibition, Part of Drawing Bridges – Ferdinand Hodler and Simon Berger
Supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in Bosnia and Herzegovina and NOA contemporary

The National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina holds an extensive collection of studies and sketches by Ferdinand Hodler, safeguarded by its curators and refugees living at the museum through the siege from 1992 - 1996. In 2026, for the first time in more than twenty years, works by Hodler are on public view in Sarajevo again – in dialogue with Simon Berger.

Hodler's studies – preparatory drawings, unfinished faces – are Berger's starting point. His portraits are his own: he imagines how the faces Hodler only outlined might have looked and gives them their contours back in glass, in formats ranging from intimately small to larger than life.

In rhythmically hung panels and staggered panes, Berger also takes up central Hodler motifs: the face of his wife Berthe, the Youth Admired by Women and the Lumberjack. The images emerge piece by piece, an echo of Hodler's own principle of parallelism. That the Lumberjack, an emblem of strength and labour, recurs holds a particular meaning for Berger.

Among the new works is a portrait of Azra Begić - created at the opening in a live performance - the curator known as “Madame Hodler”, who cared for the Gallery's Hodler collection for decades. During the war, the dedication of the Gallery's staff, Begić among them, helped carry the collection through. Her portrait honours her, and all who protected what could so easily have been lost.

From paper to glass, across more than a century, the exhibition follows what its title names: a presence that endures.

Credits

National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Embassy of Switzerland in Bosnia and Herzegovina, NOA contemporary

Photography: © NOA contemporary