Greta Gerell, oil on panel, signed and dated -45.
A flowering tree. 37 x 45 cm.
Good condition.
As a 17-year-old, Greta Gerell was accepted as one of the youngest students ever to the Art Academy in Stockholm. Then, in the 1920s, she studied with André Lhote in Paris, then in Florence and later in Munich.
As a 29-year-old, she was given a solo exhibition at one of Stockholm's most prestigious art galleries, Gummesson's gallery in 1927. The exhibition was successful and also marked her breakthrough in Swedish modern art.
Greta Gerell is represented at several leading art museums in Sweden.
The Moderna Museet's collection in Stockholm includes five works by her. The Moderna Museet's artwork ”Kvinnostudie" was donated to the Moderna Museet by His Majesty King Gustav VI Adolf, who personally admired Greta Gerell's artistry.
Some art experts believe that the painting's summer view can be inspired by Cedergrenska Parkvillan (also called Skogshyddan), which is a well-known cultural-historical building in Stocksund. Greta Gerell occasionally painted in this beautiful garden in the 1940s. The auction's work shows several similarities with her 1940s painting from "Skogshyddan" in Stocksund.
From 1890, "Skogshyddan" was the summer residence of mr Cedergren. The villa has been classified by the municipality of Danderyd as "culturally and historically irreplaceable". The property is today a private residence and a beautiful landmark in Stocksund, which can be seen when traveling by boat towards Roslagen from Stockholm.
Greta Gerell's mother encouraged her artistic talent early on, and at just 17, she was accepted as one of the youngest students ever at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. During the 1920s, Gerell studied with André Lhote in Paris, got scholarship to travel to Florance, and lived and studied in Munich. Gerell's first exhibition was held in Gummesson's art trade in Stockholm in 1927. The exhibition became a great success. Gerell's realistic artworks of landscape and animal motifs at the beginning of his career were catalysed by the impressionist movement. During the 1920s her painting changed to a new objectivity with a serene radiance and elements of purism. Interiors, portraits and still lifes became her inspirations and were executed with the utmost preciseness. Greta Gerell lived in accordance with anthroposophy since her youth, which, according to her, did not directly influence her painting but accompanied her throughout her life. In 1967, the Greta Gerell Foundation was established to support anthroposophical activities in Sweden. Art critic Karl Asplund described her painting as "a skilled realism, imbued with a quiet, warm feeling for the subject."
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