Julia Beck

After completing her studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm between 1873-1878, Julia Beck headed to Paris, where she would spend the rest of her life. Beck was one of the first Scandinavians to discover the small village of Grèz-sur-Loing, located a few kilometers from the Fontainebleau forest, where she would stay for a total of three years (1882-1885). In recent years, Beck's artistic work has received increased attention in literature, documentaries, and museums. One aspect that is increasingly highlighted is how international Beck's art was compared to many of her contemporaries.
In connection with the exhibition "De drogo till Paris- Nordiska konstnärinnor på 1880-talet”at Liljevalchs konsthall in Stockholm in the fall of 1988, Inga Zachau wrote in the exhibition catalog:
"She had lived in France for so long that her art was French down to the smallest detail. Over them, there is the French haze that makes the colors pleasantly soft. Julia Beck often painted river landscapes enveloped in mist, giving the paintings a melancholy mood. Here, a Nordic trait can possibly be traced, namely the inclination toward melancholy. However, Julia Beck's paintings are not as melancholic as those of the Nordic artists but rather exude a gentle, serious atmosphere of contemplation."
It is evident that a light melancholy and dreamlike atmosphere have characterized her landscape paintings from this period, as well as her later works from Normandy. Between 1887-1888, Julia Beck lived in Beaumont-le-Roger, and after her permanent move to Vaucresson in September 1888, she often returned to Normandy to paint. Consequently, the expression in her Normandy landscape paintings can be seen as the result of direct studies of nature, as much as they can be considered as melancholic mood pictures. During the summer in Normandy, the high humidity enveloped the vegetation and the forms of the landscape in a soft misty shimmer, a shimmer that Beck depicted evocatively in the painting featured in the auction.