Gerda Roosval-Kallstenius - At the spinning wheel, 1891

Gerda Roosval-Kallstenius (1864-1939) 

At the spinning wheel, 1891

oil on canvas
signed and dated "Gerda Roosval. 91"
unframed 61 x 51 cm (24 x 20 inches)
framed 73 x 61 cm (29 x 24 inches)

Essay:

The small fishing village of Le Pouldu, located on Cap Finistère in Brittany, south of Concarneau and Pont-Aven, was nestled between the Laita River and the sea. The area was renowned for its sand dunes. A ferry operated there, transporting people and livestock across the river. In 1886, the village consisted of only 11 households and was so small it didn't even have a bakery.

In 1890, Paul Gauguin and six other artists, including Paul Sérusier, Jacob Meyer de Haan, and Armand Seguin, relocated from Pont-Aven to Le Pouldu in search of an even simpler and more authentic way of life. They stayed at a guesthouse by the beach, La Buvette de la Plage, run by Marie Henry, a woman who had moved to the village. As payment for their stay, Gauguin and his fellow artists decorated the dining room's walls and ceiling with local motifs (today, these have been recreated using reproductions of the original artworks). When Marie Henry eventually sold the guesthouse, she took these artworks with her.

One of Gauguin's contributions to this decoration was a painting of a Breton woman spinning wool by the sea. Gauguin described this work in a letter to Vincent van Gogh, who in 1889 had painted a spinner based on a painting by Jean-François Millet (1814–1875), an artist famous for his heroic depictions of spinners, widely popularized through engravings. Gauguin and his fellow artists left Le Pouldu later in 1890.

Peasant woman at the spinning wheel by Vincent van Gogh

Gerda Roosval, daughter of bank director Consul John Roosval and Johanna Kramer, and sister to art historian Johnny Roosval, journalist Baltzar Roosval, and film producer and cultural journalist Albin Roosval, completed her art academy education in the spring of 1891. In July of that same year, she married fellow student Gottfrid Kallstenius (1861–1943). Shortly after their wedding, they traveled to Paris to continue their studies. The following year, from mid-August to November 1891, they visited Le Pouldu. Although it is unclear where they stayed, they undoubtedly would have seen the decorations created by Gauguin and his colleagues in the dining room of La Buvette de la Plage.

Photography depicting Gerda Roosval-Kallstenius. Photograph by Gottfrid Kallstenius.

From late autumn 1891 until the spring of 1892, the couple returned to Paris, where Gerda studied for a time at the Académie Colarossi. In 1892, her painting "Breton Woman with Child," created in Le Pouldu, was exhibited at the Salon.

In the spring of 1892, the couple settled in Grèz-sur-Loing at Madame Chevillon’s “Hôtel Seine et Marne” (now Hôtel Chevillon). Gerda returned to Sweden in December 1892 with their son John, who had been born in Grèz, while Gottfrid traveled to Italy to study fresco painting. The family reunited in the autumn of 1893 in Siena. Their time abroad concluded in the summer of 1894 after a brief stop in France.