Bruno Liljefors
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Mallards in the reeds
Signed Bruno Liljefors and dated 1907. Oil on canvas 125 x 220 cm.
Provenance
Pehr Swartz (1860 - 1939), industrialist, philantropist, and art collector, Norrköping, Sweden.
Beijer Auktioner, Stockholm, ”Klassiska Vårauktionen”, 26-28 April 1989, lot 196.
Nordén Auktioner, Stockholm, Skandinavisk konst - antikviteter, 24 November, 1992. lot 30.
Exhibitions
Verein Berliner Künstler, Künstlerhaus, Bellevuestrasse 3, Berlin, travelling exhibition Germany, organized by Torsten Laurin, March - September 1907, cat. no. 11 (then belonging to Mr. Pehr Swartz, Sweden).
Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Sweden, "Bruno Liljefors", 25 January - 25 May 1997, cat. no. 13.
Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, Sweden, "Bruno Liljefors", 20 september - 6 januari 1997, cat. no. 77.
More information
The painting Mallards in the Reeds was executed in 1907 during a period when Liljefors was fascinated by animals' ability to camouflage themselves. He returns in a series of works to the theory of "protective resemblance," the symbiosis between nature and animals that creates a shield against external threats. In the current painting, the female mallard's plumage almost merges with the reeds' stems. The male, with his emerald green neck, is difficult to camouflage, while his reflection in the water confuses and becomes part of the protective resemblance.
A few years earlier, Liljefors had monumental commissions for the school Norra Latin and the Biological Museum in Stockholm. The large format lingers in this work. There is a pull in the image that is intensified by the format; the water seems to rise and fall, the islands of reeds float and sway towards each other while the pair of mallards rests safely mirrored in the waters's surface.
Interest in Bruno Liljefors's art has experienced a renaissance. His paintings bring to life the dream of an unspoiled nature at a time when climate change and humanity's advance have thrown ecosystems out of balance. Liljefors's art has gained new relevance and significance, and in many ways, his work is more important for today's audience than it was for his contemporaries. Bruno Liljefors is regarded as Sweden's foremost animal painter, but interest in his work extends far beyond the country's borders. In autumn 2024, the Petit Palais in Paris, in collaboration with Sweden's Nationalmuseum, opened an exhibition featuring over 100 works by Liljefors. For the first time in France, the audience will meet "Bruno Liljefors - La Suède sauvage" – The Wild Sweden.
Artist
Bruno Liljefors is the Swedish artist best known for his nature and animal motifs, especially in dramatic situations. Liljefors started with studies at the Academy of Arts in 1879, and continued 1882 in Düsseldorf where the studies revolved around animal painting. The journey then continued to Venice, Rome, Naples, Paris and Grez. Once back in Sweden, he began to draw and paint animals, especially cats and small birds, from the beginning in intimate interaction with nature. He then moved on to broader depictions of wild animals and nature, of seascapes with seabirds and of dramatic scenes of battles between birds. Liljefors is known as our country's foremost animal painter with a large production. Liljefors depicted, in contrast to the "idyllic" animal painting, the animals everyday life with a focus on movement, anatomy and their adaptation to the landscape. This is where the greatness of his painting lies, in the ability to show the animals in their proper environment. He has achieved this by hunting and observing. Well-known works of art are the paintings "Rävfamilj" (1886) and "Havsörnar" (1897), as well as the sculpture "Lek" (1930) at Stockholm Stadium. Liljefors is mainly represented at the National Museum, Waldemarsudde and the Thielska gallery in Stockholm.
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