Hugo Birger
"Utanför ett spanskt värdshus" (Outside a Spanish Tavern)
Signed Hugo Birger and dated Paris 1886. Oil on canvas 81 x 117 cm.
Provenance
Fritzes Kungl. Hovbokhandel, Stockholm; private collection; Bukowski Auktioner AB, Stockholm, Sale 367, "Vårauktionen", April 19-21 1961, lot 11; private collection.
Literature
Sixten Strömbom, "Hugo Birger", 1947, listed in the catalogue, p. 339, no. 223.
Artist
Hugo Birger was a Swedish visual artist born in Stockholm, where he studied at the Swedish Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Birger later travelled to Paris where he spent time with Carl Larsson and Carl Skånberg, and he later had his debut in a Paris Salon. Birger was highly active in Spain and France, where he had a shared studio with Ernst Josephson. Due to Birger’s severe rheumatism, the artist chose to make the Mediterranean into his permanent home due to its warm climate. Birger’s most famous artwork is "Skandinaviska konstnärernas frukost på Café Ledoyen" from 1886 which depicts a breakfast setting shared amongst Birger’s colleagues in Paris featuring Alfred Wahlberg and Georg Pauli. Birger's paintings are executed with great skill and lively coloration, showcasing his mastery in capturing sunlight.
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