Carl Kylberg

Since the 1930s, Carl Kylberg has been a key figure in the history of 20th-century Swedish art.
In the preface to the catalog for an exhibition at Liljevalchs in 1946, Carl Kylberg wrote an appeal to visitors:
"To the visitor! First a warm welcome! There is only one thing I would like to ask of you. There is a wardrobe in the entrance hall for outer garments, and I ask you - along with your clothes, to hang up any hang-ups that consist of habitual views, preconceived opinions, or perhaps prejudices. Only then, when you have freed yourself from these lingering thoughts, can you perhaps get some small pleasure from my paintings."
In his paintings, Carl Kylberg sought to express the spiritual, the universal, and the general human condition. This "search" also evoked a strong sense of timelessness in his paintings. It is clear that Kylberg persistently sought to express this, as he was preoccupied with philosophical thoughts about human existence, his life, and his walk on earth.
In his diaries, he regularly commented on his paintings and there one can find the key that illuminates his deeply thoughtful artistry. Kylberg never strived for faithful interpretations of nature but saw it as his task to interpret the deeper underlying reality. The tree was not to be depicted as it looked and in his diary, Kylberg wrote: "I want to convince people that the eyes of their soul can also see."
By painting dry-on-dry, Kylberg creates an evocative feeling that draws the viewer's gaze towards infinity. As so often in Carl Kylberg's work, the timing is taken from the slowly emerging transition between night and day.
The work in the auction is executed in Kylberg's characteristic technique and coloring, where the warm palette is painted with sweeping brushstrokes and the contours are characteristically blurred, but they interact rather than merge.