No connection to server
Theme auctions online
Helsinki Winter Sale F504
Auction:
Selected Gifts E1128
Auction:
Curated Timepieces – November F529
Auction:
Josef Frank and Friends – Winter Edition F534
Auction:
Jern's Weapon Collection E1122
Auction:
A Swedish Private Collection F578
Auction:
The Beautiful Line F593
Auction:
Design Jewellery Online E1100
Auction:
863
1413083

Carl Larsson

(Sweden, 1853-1919)
Estimate
500 000 - 700 000 SEK
44 500 - 62 300 EUR
45 400 - 63 500 USD
Hammer price
Unsold
Purchasing info
For condition report contact specialist
Rasmus Sjöbeck
Stockholm
Rasmus Sjöbeck
Assistant Specialist Classic Art
+46 (0)727 33 24 02
Carl Larsson
(Sweden, 1853-1919)

"Snö i Grez" ("Snow in Grez")

Signed Carl Larsson. Pastel. 63 x 48 cm.

Provenance

Mr Oskar Olin, Stockholm.
Then by descent to present owner.

Exhibitions

Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm, "Carl Larsson. Minnesutställning ", September - October 1953, cat. no 67a.

Literature

Ulwa Neergaard, "Carl Larsson. Signerat med pensel och penna", 1999, listed in the catalogue under year 1885, p. 26, no 211b.
Harriet och Sven Alfons, "Carl Larsson – Skildrad av honom själv", Stockholm, 1952, compare etching p. 102.

More information

In the winter of 1885 snow fell on the northern French village of Grez which sat on the banks of the river Loing. Carl Larsson, who had been living in the village since 1882, seized the moment and used it in his art. For the few days that the snow stayed on the ground he took the opportunity to portray the weather conditions in the village in a small number of paintings. Several were painted using watercolours, but for some he chose thicker pastels in order to capture his impressions of the snow. One of these is "Snö i Grez".

The painting depicts a quiet scene taking place by the medieval bridge’s firmament. The afternoon sun appears to be setting and a man is on his way across the bridge. In the centre of the image Larsson has drawn a group of birds pecking the snow-covered ground next to the river. He here employs the pastel colours’ entire scope to create shimmering effects of light. He also used this subject for an etching entitled Snö i Grez [Snow in Grez].

During the 1880s the French village had become a place of pilgrimage for Swedish artists. In the Scandinavian artist colony (there were not just Swedes) Larsson was a central figure. Today the colony is legendary, not only because of its important role in Swedish art history, but also for the community it created and the parties that happened there. Larsson arrived in the village in 1882 and stayed for three years. When he met Karin Bergöö he returned to his home country ahead of their wedding in Stockholm.

The period in Grez was clearly important to his artistic practice. He wrote how: “Now my eyes had been opened, the spell was broken. I looked for the first time at nature. I threw my bizarreries on the rubbish heap and my pretentious idea-combinations in the lake. And there they shall remain. Oh yes, I have fully embraced nature, and may it be as simple as it pleases. This living, breeding earth shall now be the subject of my painting”. The stay would later result in what is considered Larsson first great period. He became a success at the ‘Salon’ and sold works to both the French government and important Swedish collectors, such as Pontus Fürstenberg from Gothenburg.

When one thinks of the art from Grez-sur-Loing one usually thinks of the flourishing depictions of spring with their strong colours, or the autumn scenes in shades of grey with farmers taking in the harvest. That this auction is instead offering one of Carl Larsson’s very rare winter scenes from the French village is highly exciting.

Artist

Carl Larsson is considered one of the greatest Swedish artists of all time. He was born in Gamla Stan in Stockholm and studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in the years 1866-76. After his studies in Stockholm, he traveled to France and settled in Grèz-sur-Loing. There he mainly painted garden motifs. In France, he met his future wife Karin Bergöö, who was also an artist and came to mean a lot for his artistry. Already during his student years, he made a living as a photo retoucher and cartoonist in the press. It was also during his studies that Larsson got to know Anders Zorn and Bruno Liljefors, together the three are usually called the ABC artists. At the end of the 1880s, Carl and Karin were given "Lilla Hyttnäs" in Sundborn outside Falun by Karin's father, and this is where Larsson's most famous watercolors depicting his family were created. The motifs often depict sunny landscapes with children, crayfish fishing, meals in the green and interior scenes. Larsson is represented, among other, in the National Museum, where "Gustav Vasas intåg i Stockholm" and "Midvinterblot" fills the stairwell. Represented mainly at the National Museum in Stockholm and at the Gothenburg Art Museum.

Read more