Hugo Birger
HUGO BIRGER, oil on canvas laid down on panel, signed Hugo Birger.
Executed in 1885. 87 x 60 cm.
With canvas glued to panel. Crazing. Wear.
Provenance
Mr. K.J. Carlsson, Stockholm, private collection.
Exhibitions
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, "Opponenterna av 1885. Utställning till sextioårsminnet av det första moderna genombrottet i svensk konst", 16 March-16 May 1945, no. 57 (under the title "Zigenerska med tamburin").
Literature
Sixten Strömbom, "Hugo Birger. En levnadsteckning", 1947, catalogued p. 333, no. 194 and illustrated p. 215, image 91.
Artist
Hugo Birger was a Swedish visual artist born in Stockholm, where he studied at the Swedish Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Birger later travelled to Paris where he spent time with Carl Larsson and Carl Skånberg, and he later had his debut in a Paris Salon. Birger was highly active in Spain and France, where he had a shared studio with Ernst Josephson. Due to Birger’s severe rheumatism, the artist chose to make the Mediterranean into his permanent home due to its warm climate. Birger’s most famous artwork is "Skandinaviska konstnärernas frukost på Café Ledoyen" from 1886 which depicts a breakfast setting shared amongst Birger’s colleagues in Paris featuring Alfred Wahlberg and Georg Pauli. Birger's paintings are executed with great skill and lively coloration, showcasing his mastery in capturing sunlight.
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