Olof Arborelius - Summer Reflection, Engelsberg
Regular price €2.500Olof Arborelius (1842–1915) Sweden
Summer Reflection, Engelsberg
oil on board
c. 1880-1890
signed with monogram OA
unframed: 23 x 17 cm (9 x 6 3/4 in)
framed: 33.5 x 27 cm (13 1/8 x 10 5/8 in)
handcrafted frame by Stockholm Förgyllning och Bildhuggeri included.
On the reverse: printed estate label reading “Painted by Olof Arborelius, certified,” signed by E. T. Arborelius, the artist’s son.
Provenance:
The artist’s estate, with stamp on the reverse; Swedish private collection.
Essay:
This intimate plein air study by Olof Arborelius captures the quiet beauty of a sunlit forest edge reflected in still water. The confident, spontaneous brushwork and delicate handling of light and shade suggest it was painted directly from nature—en plein air—a method Arborelius often used, especially during his time in Engelsberg, where this work was most likely created.
Engelsberg held a special place in Arborelius’s artistic life and is also the setting for his most famous painting, Sverigetavlan, now in the collection of Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. Though modest in scale, this small panel radiates presence and mood, demonstrating Arborelius’s skill in conveying atmosphere with a restrained palette and expressive brushwork. The painting is presented in a hand-gilded frame made by Stockholm Förgyllning och Bildhuggeri.
Olof Arborelius was a key figure in Swedish genre and landscape painting. Born in Orsa in 1842, he studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts and spent several years traveling and studying in Europe before returning to Sweden. In 1902, he was appointed professor at the Academy, where he influenced a new generation of artists.
Though associated with the Düsseldorf school and the academic tradition, Arborelius embraced elements of the opponentmovement’s freer realism in his later work. Known especially for his depictions of rural life in Dalarna, his palette evolved over the years toward clearer tones and more monumental compositions.
Arborelius is represented in several major collections, including the Nationalmuseum, Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Ateneum in Helsinki, and Nordiska Museet. His legacy also lives on through sketchbooks and materials donated by his descendants to the Academy of Fine Arts, including a remarkable early stamp collection now held at the Postmuseum in Stockholm.
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