Johan Ericson - The Forest of Fontainebleau, c.1878

Johan Ericson (1849-1925) Swedish

The Forest of Fontainebleau, c.1878

oil on panel
signed Joh.Ericson
painted c.1878
panel dimensions 21.65 x 17.32 inches (55 x 44 cm)
frame 25.59 x 22 inches (65 x 56 cm)

Provenance:
A Swedish private collection

Johan Ericson (1849-1925) was a Swedish artist.
He was the son of the casket carver Anders Ericsson and Johanna Sjöholm, and he married Anna Gardell-Ericson in 1882 in Paris.

Ericson studied at the Art Academy in Stockholm from 1872–1878 and in France from 1878–1884, where he joined the contemporary artists in Paris. During his period in France, he was also an assistant in Alfred Wahlberg's studio.

The forest of Fontainebleau (French: Forêt de Fontainebleau) is a mixed deciduous forest lying sixty kilometres southeast of Paris.
It is famous worldwide for having inspired a large group of 19th-century artists, including painters of the Barbizon School and the Impressionists.
The painters of the Barbizon School demanded the forest to be protected for its unique environment, and in 1852 it became the first nature reserve in the world.
We see an elderly lady gathering firewood, and on the left in the picture - a road; it is in the middle of the day, and the dense treetops barely let any light through.
Ericson successfully captured the unique light and dense vegetation in this early painting from The forest of Fontainebleau.

After his stay in France, he moved home and became a teacher of freehand drawing at Chalmers Institute of Technology in Gothenburg 1885–1915 and director of Valand's painting school 1889–1890.

Ericson is represented at Nationalmuseum Stockholm, Gothenburg Art Museum, Helsingborg Museum, Östergötland Museum, Kalmar Art Museum, Gotland Art Museum, Norrköping Art Museum and Linköping City Museum.