Studio: international art (12.1898)

A Modern Swedish Landscape Painter

of colour. Our sky is seldom
clear. Even in the beautiful
midsummer clays large white
clouds float over the blue surface ;
there is more play and change in
the tones of the air; sun and
shade alternate more quickly and
call forth greater contrasts. Our
deep-green foliage, the stems of
our pines which shine red in the
setting sun, the ever-changing as-
pect of our woods and the rich
flora of our fields, make up a
varying play of colour where con-
trasts often meet without con-
necting shades. And towards
autumn, when the air is more dry
and transparent, these contrasts
are still more visible ; colours be-
come still deeper, and the fall of
the leaf approaches with a pomp
which has hardly a rival in
southern landscape. The more
our artists have imbibed this
nature, the more have they aban-
doned the light, pale tones which
at one time were prominent in
our landscape painting, and they
seek to use the principles of the
phenomena of light and atmo-
sphere—which they learnt while
studying—in a colour language
which is stronger, deeper, and,
for us, more characteristic. More-
over, they strike out in another
and a new direction. When ab-

sorbed in the studying of light / \k

-Mat.', / } Milfi |

and colour, they neglected the u".....

expression of form, the firm, plas-

" at the edgi

from a painting by h.r.h. prince eugen of sweden

tic outline, the well-built and " at the edge of the wood "

artistically balanced composition.
The picturesque triumphed over
the decorative. In this the

influence of the English school brought much fusion of the two tendencies of modern art which

change here as on the Continent. The decorative have their strongest expressions, one in French

element has now begun to be appreciated both in impressionism, the other in English pre-Raphael-

form and colour. The firm, characteristic, elo- itism.

quent outline has again acquired so much respect Among the artists who represent this new

that it seems as though colour had been thrust current here in Sweden, Prince Eugen stands in

aside. But such is not the case. What we now the front rank, and in what has preceded I have

see is an artistic attempt to use the new principles tried to show some of the more important factors

of colour in other fields—to fuse them with artistic for a right understanding of his work. Ever since

demands of another kind which were lately he appeared as a finished artist he has taken a

nrglected. It is, viewed broadly, a process of distinct place, with a thorough knowledge of his