Anshelm Schultzberg (1862–1945) Sweden

Motif from Sunnansjö, Dalarna, 1894

signed and dated lower left Schultzberg 1894, Sunnansjö
oil on panel, mounted on Masonite
unframed 27 × 35 cm (10.6 × 13.8 in)
framed 37 × 45 cm (14.6 × 17.7 in)

Provenance
A gift from the artist to his friend Sven Kjellström (1875–1950), Swedish violist, according to the artist's dedication on the painting;
Private collection, Sweden.

Condition Report:
Recently professionally conserved. The painting is in very good condition with a stable paint surface and clear, well preserved colours.

Essay:
Painted in 1894, Sunnansjö is an unusually intimate early work by Anshelm Schultzberg, created when the artist was only thirty two years old and still establishing the artistic language that would eventually make him one of Sweden's best known landscape painters around the turn of the twentieth century.

The motif is identified by the artist himself as Sunnansjö, a village in Dalarna situated in the landscape around Lake Väsman and the waterways west of Ludvika. Rather than presenting the picturesque buildings or cultivated countryside of the village, Schultzberg turns his attention toward the landscape itself. A dark mountain ridge stretches across the horizon, separating the broad sky from the quiet water and low lying terrain below.

The simplicity of the composition is striking. There are no figures, buildings or narrative elements. Instead, Schultzberg reduces the landscape to horizontal bands of earth, water, mountain and sky. This gives the small panel an unexpectedly modern quality. Seen from a distance, the individual elements almost dissolve into areas of colour, while closer inspection reveals the subtle variations of the painter's brushwork.

Schultzberg had received his artistic education at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm before continuing his development through extensive travel abroad. Like many ambitious Scandinavian painters of his generation, he travelled to continental Europe and spent important periods in France and Italy, where contemporary approaches to plein air painting and atmospheric landscape broadened his artistic vocabulary. He also encountered the increasingly international naturalist movement that was transforming Nordic landscape painting during the final decades of the nineteenth century.

Upon returning to Sweden, Schultzberg increasingly devoted himself to the landscape of his native country. He travelled extensively and developed a particular sensitivity to seasonal and atmospheric effects. Winter eventually became one of his most celebrated subjects, and his brilliantly observed snow landscapes established his reputation both in Sweden and internationally. His work was shown at major exhibitions in Sweden and abroad, and he became an important representative of Swedish landscape painting during the decades around 1900.

Sunnansjö, however, predates many of the mature winter landscapes for which Schultzberg became famous. This is part of what makes the painting particularly interesting. It reveals the young artist experimenting with atmosphere, reflected light and radical compositional simplicity before these concerns became fully established within his mature production.

Alfred Jansson (1863–1931) Sweden

Late Summer Landscape, 1922

signed and dated lower right ALFRED JANSSON 1922
oil on canvas
unframed 73 × 91 cm (28.7 × 35.8 in)
framed 78 × 95 cm (30.7 × 37.4 in)

Provenance:
Private collection, Sweden.

Condition Report:
The painting is in very good condition with a well preserved paint surface and clear, luminous colours.

Essay:
Painted in 1922, this large landscape by Alfred Jansson captures the transition between summer and autumn, when the first yellow foliage begins to transform the still predominantly green Swedish countryside.

The composition is dominated by birch trees, their delicate yellow leaves illuminated against a background of cooler blue and green woodland. A single birch in the right foreground provides the principal vertical element, while the landscape behind rises gently towards a wooded hillside. There is no anecdotal narrative and no human presence. Jansson instead concentrates entirely on vegetation, colour and the particular quality of light associated with the changing season.

The painting is especially successful in its orchestration of complementary colours. Brilliant yellows and touches of orange and red are set against cool blues, turquoise greens and violet shadows. The result is a landscape that appears to shimmer. Jansson avoids hard contours throughout much of the composition, allowing trees, grasses and distant woodland to merge through repeated touches of colour.

Alfred Jansson belonged to the generation of Swedish painters who witnessed the profound transformation of Scandinavian landscape painting around the turn of the twentieth century. Naturalistic observation remained fundamental, but increasingly painters sought to communicate their experience of nature through colour and atmosphere rather than detailed description. Jansson's mature landscapes demonstrate precisely this balance.

In the present work, the season itself becomes the subject. The brilliant yellow birches suggest that autumn is approaching, yet the meadows remain intensely green and the sky retains the clear luminosity of summer. This brief transitional period gives the painting its particular character: nature appears exceptionally colourful precisely because it is beginning to change.

Mary Kirschbaum, Sweden

Woman by a Lake at Sunset, c. 1890

signed
oil on canvas
unframed 23 × 33 cm (9.1 × 13 in)
framed 33 × 43 cm (13 × 16.9 in)

Provenance:
Private collection, Sweden.

Condition Report:
Recently professionally conserved. The painting is in very good condition with clear and well preserved colours. Presented in a newly made gilded frame, included with the work.

Essay:
This intimate landscape, painted around 1890, depicts a solitary woman seated beneath a tree overlooking a tranquil lake at sunset. A small wooden jetty and moored boats occupy the centre of the composition,, while the distant shoreline is silhouetted against a sky glowing in delicate shades of pink, violet and pale blue.

The seated figure is particularly important to the atmosphere of the painting. Turned away from the viewer, she appears absorbed in contemplation of the lake and fading evening light. Her small scale emphasizes the surrounding landscape and lends the scene a quiet, almost private character, as though the viewer has unexpectedly encountered a moment of solitude.

Kirschbaum handles the changing light with considerable sensitivity. The pink sunset is reflected across the still surface of the lake, while the tree and foreground remain in deeper greens and browns. The overhanging branches frame the view naturally and lead the eye toward the brilliant band of colour along the horizon.

Very little biographical information concerning Mary Kirschbaum has so far been securely established, and her birthdates remain unknown. The present painting nevertheless reveals a technically accomplished artist working within the late nineteenth century tradition of landscape painting. Its combination of sunset light, still water and the solitary female figure gives this small work a particularly poetic quality.

Hilding Werner (1880–1944) Sweden

Landscape with Cloud Formations

inscribed and authenticated by the artist on the reverse:
“Anstående målning (utkast) är utförd av Hilding Werner”
oil on canvas
unframed 37 × 29 cm (14.6 × 11.4 in)
framed 47 × 39 cm (18.5 × 15.4 in)

Provenance:
Private collection, Sweden.

Condition Report
The painting is in very good condition and has recently been cleaned by professional art restorer. well preserved paint surface and clear, harmonious colours. Presented in a gilded frame.

Essay:
This landscape is a particularly intimate example of Hilding Werner's fascination with the dramatic skies and changing weather of the Värmland landscape. Described by the artist himself on the reverse as an utkast, or study, a preparatory work for a more formally resolved composition.

Hills stretches horizontally across the lower part of the composition, Above it rises an immense sky filled with towering cloud formations. The proportions leave little doubt as to Werner's true subject: approximately three quarters of the composition is devoted to the sky.

Hilding Werner studied at Caleb Althin's painting school in Stockholm before continuing his artistic development independently. He became closely associated with the landscapes of Värmland, whose forests, lakes and broad horizons provided him with an inexhaustible source of motifs. Throughout his career, Werner demonstrated a particular sensitivity to atmospheric phenomena. Reflections, evening light, approaching weather and dramatic cloud formations recur repeatedly in his paintings.

In the present work, this interest is reduced almost to its purest form. The landscape acts primarily as a foundation against which the extraordinary scale of the sky can be experienced. The low horizon makes the clouds appear even more imposing, while the small tree at lower right provides an important sense of scale.

Owe Zerge (1894–1983) Sweden

Blåsippor och vitsippor (Blue and White Anemones)

signed lower left Owe Zerge
oil on panel
unframed 54 × 64.5 cm (21.3 × 25.4 in)
framed 70 × 80 cm (27.6 × 31.5 in)

Provenance:
Private collection, Sweden.

Condition Report:
The painting is in very good condition with a well preserved paint surface and clear, vibrant colours. Presented in a newly made gilded frame, included with the work.

Essay:
In this intimate woodland scene, Owe Zerge turns his attention away from the portraits for which he became particularly well known and instead focuses on one of the most familiar signs of the Scandinavian spring. A carpet of white anemones spreads across the forest floor beneath a large moss covered boulder, accompanied by several intensely blue flowers that appear to be blue anemones.

The contrast between the delicate flowers and the massive stone gives the composition much of its character. The white blossoms form an irregular band across the centre of the painting, their petals standing out sharply against last year's brown leaves and the deep greens of the surrounding vegetation.  Zerge's close viewpoint is particularly effective. There is no distant landscape and no sky. Instead, the viewer is brought directly down to the forest floor, as though encountering the flowers during a spring walk. 

Owe Zerge studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm and subsequently developed a long career as a painter, becoming particularly admired for his portraits. His technical training is evident here in the careful observation of individual plants, but the painting never becomes botanical illustration. The flowers are described with sufficient precision to establish their character, while the surrounding leaves, stones and forest floor are handled with broader and increasingly painterly strokes.

The motif is deeply associated with the Swedish spring. Vitsippor and blåsippor appear during the brief period when light once again reaches the woodland floor before the trees develop their full summer foliage. Zerge captures precisely this sense of renewal. Against the subdued browns and greys left by winter, the flowers and newly emerging leaves appear exceptionally vivid. The result is a beautifully observed and unusually intimate work by Zerge. Rather than seeking grandeur, he finds his subject in a small fragment of nature and gives it presence through scale, colour and close observation. 

Olof Arborelius (1842–1915) Sweden

Fishing Boats in Moonlight, probably Stockholm Archipelago

signed lower right O. Arborelius
oil on canvas
unframed 59 × 89 cm (23.2 × 35 in)
framed 75 × 105 cm (29.5 × 41.3 in)

Provenance:
Private collection, Sweden.

Condition Report:
The painting has recently been restored by a professional art conservator in Stockholm. The colors are bright and clear and it is ready to hang. 

Essay:
This painting by Olof Arborelius reveals a remarkably free and atmospheric side of an artist best known for his depictions of the Swedish landscape. Most likely painted iin the Stockholm archipelago, the composition captures a quiet coastal scene under moonlight, where fishing boats, rowing figures and a distant cottage emerge gradually from the silvery darkness.

At the centre of the composition is a traditional sailing boat, its dark sail rising dramatically against the illuminated clouds. A small lantern glows warmly aboard the vessel, its golden reflection trembling on the surface of the water. This concentrated point of warm colour functions almost as an anchor for the entire composition. The eye is drawn instinctively towards it before moving outward across the surrounding boats, moonlit water and distant shoreline.

Human presence is suggested rather than described. To the left, figures approach in a small wooden rowing boat, while further vessels appear as silhouettes against the horizon. On the right, a modest cottage stands close to the water. Smoke rises from its chimney and dissolves into the evening air, a subtle but important indication of life within the otherwise quiet landscape. Arborelius thus creates a scene that feels inhabited without allowing narrative detail to disturb its contemplative atmosphere.

Olof Arborelius studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm and later travelled extensively through Europe. His years abroad, particularly his travels in Italy, broadened his understanding of landscape painting and encouraged a freer approach to light and atmosphere. He nevertheless remained deeply connected to Swedish nature throughout his career and became one of the important landscape painters of the later nineteenth century.

The present work is particularly interesting when considered alongside another painting that we have in the gallery, Ships in Moonlight. The two paintings share an obvious fascination with sailing vessels, moonlight and the transformation of water after darkness. Yet their character is markedly different. Ships in Moonlight, which probably depicts an Italian coastal setting, is more rapidly and sketchily executed, almost like an immediate study of a passing atmospheric effect. The present painting is more developed and distinctly Nordic in feeling.

Several details support a Swedish interpretation of the scene. The low rocky shoreline, modest wooden buildings and fishing activity are entirely consistent with the Stockholm archipelago, while labels on the reverse of the canvas connect the physical materials of the painting with Stockholm. 

What makes Fishing Boats in Moonlight particularly compelling is Arborelius's ability to balance observation with atmosphere. The boats, figures and cottage provide recognizable points of reference, yet the true subject is light itself: moonlight breaking through clouds, catching the sail, dissolving across the water and meeting the small artificial glow of the lantern.The result is one of those landscapes in which Arborelius moves beyond straightforward topography. The scene becomes an experience of a particular moment, quiet yet full of activity, darkness punctuated by small signs of human presence. The glowing lantern, approaching rowing boat, smoking chimney and brilliant moon together create a remarkably intimate vision of life along the Swedish coast after nightfall.

Carl Johansson (1863–1944) Sweden

Northern Swedish Landscape, c. 1920

signed lower right Carl Johansson
oil on panel
unframed 28.5 × 43.5 cm (11.2 × 17.1 in)
framed 38.5 × 54 cm (15.2 × 21.3 in)

Provenance:
Private collection, Sweden.

Condition Report:
The painting is in very good condition with a well preserved paint surface and clear, vibrant colours.

Essay:
This northern landscape is a characteristic example of Carl Johansson’s mature painting, probably executed around 1920. The exact location has not yet been identified, although the character of the terrain suggests Västernorrland where Johansson found many of the motifs that occupied him throughout his career.

The composition opens across a broad valley surrounded by gently rising mountains. A lake or river stretches through the middle distance, while a small group of dark timber buildings occupies the foreground. At the centre, a cluster of trees catches the warm light, their yellow and orange foliage forming a brilliant contrast to the deep blues of the mountains and water. The season appears to be late summer or early autumn, when the first warm colours begin to appear in the northern landscape.

Particularly characteristic is Johansson’s handling of the distant mountains. Instead of using conventional grey atmospheric tones, he builds them from saturated blues, violets and ultramarine. This pronounced preference for blue became so closely associated with his art that he acquired the affectionate nickname “Ultramarin Johansson.” In the present work, blue is not merely used to describe distance. It becomes one of the fundamental structural elements of the composition, binding together mountain, water and sky.

Carl Johansson studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm and developed into one of the most distinctive Swedish landscape painters of his generation. Travel and exposure to contemporary European painting broadened his understanding of colour and light, yet the Swedish landscape remained at the centre of his artistic production. During his mature period he increasingly simplified natural forms and allowed colour and brushwork to carry much of the expressive force of his paintings.

The present work demonstrates precisely why Johansson’s landscapes remain so immediately recognisable. The motif itself is quiet and uncomplicated, yet through colour he transforms it into something intensely personal. The brilliant blue mountains, autumn trees and short brushstrokes turn the northern countryside into a study of atmosphere and colour.

Gerhard Henning (1880–1967) Swedish-Danish

Flöjtspelaren (The Flute Player), 1904

signed  with monogram and dated lower left
charcoal and ink on paper
unframed 33 × 24 cm (13 × 9.4 in)
framed 45 × 36 cm (17.7 × 14.1 in)

Provenance:
The singer and actor Gunnar Bohman (1882–1963)
and the artist Signe Bohman (1885–1987), Stockholm.

Exhibited:
Probably Stockholm, Konstnärshuset, 1905, together with Oskar Bergman, Ivar Arosenius and Arvid Jacobsson.

Gothenburg, 1908, Ivar Arosenius, Sigge Bergström och Gerhard Henning, catalogue no. 166, “Flöjtspelare”.

Essay:
Executed in 1904, Flöjtspelaren belongs to the earliest and most poetic phase of Gerhard Henning’s artistic career. Before achieving international recognition as one of the foremost Scandinavian sculptors of the twentieth century, Henning worked primarily as a draughtsman, painter and printmaker. During these formative years he moved within the close artistic circle surrounding Ivar Arosenius, Ole Kruse and Oskar Bergman in Gothenburg and Stockholm. Their generation sought an alternative to naturalism and academic realism, turning instead toward symbolism, decorative stylisation and literary imagination.

In Flöjtspelaren, Henning creates an atmosphere that is profoundly introspective and dreamlike. The solitary flute player stands at the centre of the composition, shown in strict profile and enveloped by tall vertical tree trunks that almost resemble a theatrical curtain. Behind the figure appears a narrow stretch of water reflecting the distant light of a star filled night sky. The bowed head, elongated silhouette and silent nocturnal setting transform the work into something less descriptive than psychological. Rather than illustrating a narrative event, Henning evokes an emotional and spiritual state.

The composition reveals the artist’s fascination with British fin de siècle illustration, particularly the works of Aubrey Beardsley, Walter Crane and William Morris. Their influence can be seen in the refined linearity, decorative rhythm and flattened spatial construction. At the same time the drawing possesses a distinctly Nordic melancholy that connects it closely to the symbolist tendencies emerging in Sweden during the first years of the twentieth century.

Henning’s early works on paper from this period are comparatively rare. Many were executed before his transition toward sculpture and before his eventual move into the Danish artistic milieu where he later became celebrated for his monumental female figures and porcelain works for Royal Copenhagen. In drawings such as Flöjtspelaren, however, one encounters a different Gerhard Henning: a young artist deeply engaged with poetry, music, myth and the inner world of symbolism.

The decorative dating device in the lower left corner, reading “19 [crown] 04”, closely relates to inscriptions found in other early works by the artist, including Kärlek-sången from 1905 in the collection of Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. 

The previous owner, Gunnar Bohman, belonged to the same bohemian and artistic circle as Henning and Arosenius during the opening years of the century. The drawing therefore remains closely connected to the intimate cultural environment from which it originally emerged.

Condition report
The drawing has been with conservator Lotta Möller and is considered to be in very good condition. Please contact us for a more information. 
Presented in a newly produced frame by Stockholm Förgyllning & Bildhuggeri.

Fritz Lindström (1874–1962) Sweden

Värmland Landscape, 1928

signed and dated lower left Fritz Lindström 28
oil on panel
unframed 38 × 46 cm (15 × 18.1 in) 
framed 53 × 61 cm (20.9 × 24 in)

Provenance:
Private collection, Karlstad, Sweden.

Essay:
Painted in 1928, this landscape belongs to Fritz Lindström's mature period, when his expressive interpretation of the Värmland countryside had reached its fullest confidence. The view is believed to depict the region around Granberget, although the exact location remains unconfirmed. The painting embodies the qualities that made Lindström one of Sweden's most admired landscape painters.

The composition unfolds across gently rolling farmland, where cultivated fields, scattered farmhouses and winding property lines stretch towards a distant chain of softly undulating blue hills. The elevated viewpoint allows the landscape to open gradually before the viewer, creating both breadth and remarkable spatial depth. Rather than focusing on anecdotal details, Lindström emphasizes the rhythm of the land itself, allowing fields, forests and mountains to merge into a harmonious whole.

Fritz Lindström was born in Värmland and studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm before continuing his education in Paris. As a member of the Rackstad Colony in Arvika, together with artists such as Gustaf and Maja Fjaestad, Christian Eriksson and Björn Ahlgrensson, he became one of the leading interpreters of western Sweden's landscape. Unlike several of his contemporaries, Lindström never sought decorative stylisation for its own sake. Instead, he developed a highly personal form of expressive naturalism in which colour, light and vigorous brushwork conveyed the emotional character of the landscape.

The present painting exemplifies this mature language. The fields are not carefully delineated but suggested through broad passages of colour, while the trees are built from energetic, almost sculptural applications of paint. The distant mountains provide a calm horizontal counterbalance to the lively foreground, giving the composition both stability and movement. The sky, filled with softly illuminated clouds, completes the colour harmony without overwhelming the landscape beneath.

Works from this period are among Lindström's most sought after. They demonstrate his ability to unite direct observation with an increasingly free painterly expression, anticipating aspects of modern Scandinavian landscape painting while remaining deeply rooted in the traditions of Värmland. Whether or not the view can ultimately be identified as Granberget, the painting succeeds as a timeless celebration of the region's distinctive landscape.

Condition Report:
Recently professionally conserved. The painting is preserved in excellent condition with a remarkably fresh and vibrant palette. Presented in a newly made frame.