Wilhelm von Gegerfelt

Brilliant examples of Wilhelm von Gegerfelt's prized plein-air paintings, executed in northwestern Skåne, Sweden, are in the collections of several prominent art museums.

The oil painting "Strand på Hallands Väderö" (1893) belongs to the permanent collection of the Stockholm National Museum.

The Gothenburg Art Museum owns the painting "Vinterafton på Hallands Väderö" (1893).
From 1890, Wilhelm von Gegerfelt lived in Torekov until his death in 1920.

In the late 19th century, Wilhelm von Gegerfelt had close contact with the artist Carl-Fredrik Hill, and certain influences from his expressive plein air painting can be reflected in the stark landscape images of Torekov and Halland Väderö, which are clearly visible for example, in the auction's powerful painting from a Torekov garden.

Torekov and Halland Väderö's court painter Wilhelm von Gegerfelt moved to the Bjäre peninsula in 1890 and gathered Nordic artists around them. One of the visitors was the Swedish artist Richard Bergh, who in the summer of 1895 painted the well-known artwork "Dagens död", in which a woman dressed in dark clothes crouches in front of a lifeless man.

Wilhelm von Gegerfelt's respected artistry in northwestern Scania has been described in several different books.
The era of Torekov's artist colony is described and presented in the book "Här trifvas vi förträffligt!" by Erik Magnusson and Fredrik Täckström.

The book "Från Paris till Torekov och Hallands Väderö — med en skak av krusbär" describes the life of Mr. and Mrs. Wilhelm and Gunhild von Gegerfelt in Torekov. They were both artists, although the husband Wilhelm was the most famous.

Wilhelm von Gegerfelt was born in Gothenburg in 1844, the son of city architects Victor von Gegerfelt and Hanna Damm, and began his artistic career as a painter's apprentice in Copenhagen in 1861-63.

At the same time, he studied at the Danish Art Academy in Copenhagen.
In the years 1863-67, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm and then traveled for several years to places such as Düsseldorf and Paris.

An interesting detail is that Wilhelm von Gegerfelt served as Prince Eugen's tutor for a year.