Portrait of August Strindberg's daughter Anne-Marie.
Signed C.L. and dated 1905 with the dedication "To the friend August Strindberg, his little girl Anne-Marie". Watercolour, charcoal, and pencil on paper, image 63.5 x 47 cm.
Sotheby's, London, United Kingdom, "19th and 20th Century Scandinavian Paintings, Watercolours and Sculpture", 27 March, 1990, lot 41.
Sothebys, London, Great Britain, "19th Century European Paintings", 3 June, 2003, lot 204.
Konstnärshuset, Stockholm, "Carl Larsson. Separatutställning", September 1906, cat. no 66.
Ulwa Neergaard, "Carl Larsson, signerat med pensel och penna", 1999, illustrated p. 355 and listed in catalogue supplement, under the year 1905 p. 105, cat. no 1174.
Anne-Marie Hagelin (1902 - 2007) was August Strindberg's youngest daughter from his marriage to actress Harriet Bosse. Although the marriage was short-lived, Bosse and Strindberg managed to stay in touch. Practically, they shared custody of their daughter Anne-Marie, which was as radical for its time as the fact that they lived separately for a period. Strindberg scholar Björn Meidal, in his book "The Story of August Strindberg, Harriet Bosse, and their daughter Anne-Marie," has recounted the history of Strindberg's last marriage and his tender relationship with his youngest daughter. He spoiled Anne-Marie with paint boxes and dolls but also wanted her to become a "spirited girl." Besides bows and arrows, fishing rods, and various fishing gear, he tried to pass on his interest in pyrotechnics to his daughter. In their preserved correspondence, he constantly asked if his gifts of firecrackers and fireworks pleased her.
August Strindberg and Carl Larsson had a long and complicated friendship. They moved around the world and were often far from each other but kept in touch through letters. Björn Meidal has compiled and commented on this extensive correspondence in his book "Dear Strix! Brother Lars!" They struggled with their lives and challenging creativity, in Paris and Lund, on Kymmendö and in Grez, in Sundborn and Stockholm and Furusund. Through both success and adversity, they maintained their contact, shared their worries, and comforted each other. Alternately, they scolded and congratulated each other, became proper enemies, and became friends again
Photo: Anne-Marie Strindberg, 1905, unknown studio photographer - from Paulson, Arvid (ed. and translated, 1959). Letters of Strindberg to Harriet Bosse. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons.