Prins Eugen

In the autumn of 1889, the 24-year-old Prince Eugen returned from Paris to Stockholm for good. Along with his brother Prince Carl, he moved into the Arvfurstens Palace at Gustaf Adolf Square and rented a studio on Valhallavägen 25. To facilitate plein-air painting during the winter months, he had a mobile studio on wheels constructed. He was inspired by his former teacher Wilhelm von Gegerfelt, who had made a similar mobile studio drawn by horses to escape the cold and wind. The prince's portable house became a well-known feature in the street scene. Prince Eugen primarily painted in Söder, but also at Gärdet and Djurgården. The painting in question is one of the earliest known works created by the prince using his mobile studio (Zachau, op. cit.). The majority of the known works Prince Eugen produced during the winter of 1889–90 are today housed in the collections at Prince Eugen's Waldemarsudde.

Opposite Skansen on Djurgården, near Djurgårdsbrunnsviken, lies the restaurant Villa Källhagen. Källhagen has existed since the 18th century and is one of the few remaining historic taverns in Stockholm. The red cottage is what remains from the 18th century. At that time, it was a roadside tavern simply called Röda Stugan (The Red Cottage). Röda Stugan was located on the Hesslingeberg farm, and in 1810, Lieutenant Anders Chytraeus took over the lease of the farm and significantly expanded its area by also leasing the surrounding area. The area was named Källhagen and the inn was renamed after it. In the 1920s, Källhagen was very rundown and it was decided to demolish the farm, but the red cottage was preserved. The Red Cottage was used as a site office during the Stockholm Exhibition in 1930. After the exhibition, there was a desire to build a new inn on the site and the task was assigned to the architect Torsten Stubelius. Stubelius was known for the renovation of Den Gyldene Freden a few years earlier, a commission he received from Anders Zorn who then owned the tavern. At Källhagen, Stubelius designed some pavilion-like annexes that stood for 55 years. By the 1980s, the buildings were quite worn and it was time for a new facelift. Therefore, in 1988, the cottage was moved about fifteen meters to make room for the new facility we see today, designed by architect Krister Bjurström.

The painting in question is the only known depiction of what the old Källhagen looked like and, in addition to its artistic merits, the painting thus has great historical interest. The painting was previously part of Director Oscar Höckert's art collection. Höckert and his wife Augusta donated their art collection to Landskrona Museum in 1952. A selection of the donated works was displayed at Landskrona Museum from March 12 to April 23, 2017. The collection predominantly contains works by Swedish artists from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, and the motifs are landscapes, portraits, environments, and still lifes. The collection includes works by artists such as Isaac Grünewald, Per Gummesson, Alfred Hedlund, Agda Holst, and Svante Bergh.