Carl Larsson

In the winter of 1885 snow fell on the northern French village of Grez which sat on the banks of the river Loing. Carl Larsson, who had been living in the village since 1882, seized the moment and used it in his art. For the few days that the snow stayed on the ground he took the opportunity to portray the weather conditions in the village in a small number of paintings. Several were painted using watercolours, but for some he chose thicker pastels in order to capture his impressions of the snow. One of these is "Snö i Grez".

The painting depicts a quiet scene taking place by the medieval bridge’s firmament. The afternoon sun appears to be setting and a man is on his way across the bridge. In the centre of the image Larsson has drawn a group of birds pecking the snow-covered ground next to the river. He here employs the pastel colours’ entire scope to create shimmering effects of light. He also used this subject for an etching entitled Snö i Grez [Snow in Grez].

During the 1880s the French village had become a place of pilgrimage for Swedish artists. In the Scandinavian artist colony (there were not just Swedes) Larsson was a central figure. Today the colony is legendary, not only because of its important role in Swedish art history, but also for the community it created and the parties that happened there. Larsson arrived in the village in 1882 and stayed for three years. When he met Karin Bergöö he returned to his home country ahead of their wedding in Stockholm.

The period in Grez was clearly important to his artistic practice. He wrote how: “Now my eyes had been opened, the spell was broken. I looked for the first time at nature. I threw my bizarreries on the rubbish heap and my pretentious idea-combinations in the lake. And there they shall remain. Oh yes, I have fully embraced nature, and may it be as simple as it pleases. This living, breeding earth shall now be the subject of my painting”. The stay would later result in what is considered Larsson first great period. He became a success at the ‘Salon’ and sold works to both the French government and important Swedish collectors, such as Pontus Fürstenberg from Gothenburg.

When one thinks of the art from Grez-sur-Loing one usually thinks of the flourishing depictions of spring with their strong colours, or the autumn scenes in shades of grey with farmers taking in the harvest. That this auction is instead offering one of Carl Larsson’s very rare winter scenes from the French village is highly exciting.