From Dusk to Dawn, an introduction

During the later years of the 19th century many young Nordic artists travelled to Paris. After experiencing the freedom and possibilities there the art world in Stockholm seemed small and far too conservative in its fondness for historic motifs. Dissatisfaction with the Academy of Art grew. Its teaching was considered old-fashioned and too few exhibitions were arranged for enough artists to reach an audience. This culminated in a manifesto in 1885 in which 86 young artists demanded changes. A new age dawned. Modern art gained ground and the light of France challenged the gloom of history paintings. After a decade in France many artists returned to Sweden to revitalise national art. The self-image based on the history painters’ heroes now found its foundation in calm landscapes in the Nordic twilight.

Carl Gustaf Hellqvist is described as a very career-oriented student, verging on the ruthless. He quickly realised that historical painting was what he should focus on to gain favour with the professors at the Academy of Art. This painting reveals the extent to which history painting was a matter of convincing narrative. Scenes like this, which illustrated history books and formed an entire population’s impression of how things happened, are after all pure invention.

Reality in France

France was the land of opportunity. Here it was possible to study at private academies with greater freedom than at home. This applied not least to the women artists. The aim was to have a work accepted by the jury for the annual Salon and reach its broad audience. When Nordic artists travelled there in the 1870s Impressionism already existed, but it was the artists referred to as the naturalists that mainly impressed the Scandinavians – in other words the artists who painted motifs from contemporary everyday surroundings with photographic clarity in bright light.

Jenny Nyström was one of the most talented artists of her day. She travelled to France after winning a medal in a competition at the Academy of Art in 1881. The medal enabled her to apply for a travel scholarship. She quickly became successful in Paris and some of her works were accepted by the Salon, like this pastel for instance, which was exhibited there in 1885. The motif of the elderly peasant woman was typical of the time with its interest in social realistic depictions.

French Landscape

Back in Sweden there had been little change in landscape painting for many years and its status was lower than history painting at the Academy of Art. Plein-air painting had not yet made an impact while it already had a long tradition in France. It was practised before the middle of the century and the artists called the Barbizon painters has later inspired the impressionists and the naturalists. In the works painted by Nordic artists in France the emphasis was on rendering the atmosphere and the effects of light. Greyish and misty days became popular as they suited intentions like these.

Carl Gustaf Hellqvist is described as a very career-oriented student, verging on the ruthless. He quickly realised that historical painting was what he should focus on to gain favour with the professors at the Academy of Art. This painting reveals the extent to which history painting was a matter of convincing narrative. Scenes like this, which illustrated history books and formed an entire population’s impression of how things happened, are after all pure invention.

Scandinavia in a New Light

During the 1880s many artists travelled backwards and forwards between France and Scandinavia. During their stays in their native countries they painted Nordic motifs in the light of the experience they had acquired in the south. In 1885 86 artists signed what was known as the Opposition Manifesto and one aim was reform the Academy of Art and the way it arranged exhibitions. This protest included the organisation of the independent exhibitions On the Banks of the Seine and Opponenternas utställning [The Opposition’s Exhibition], which displayed the latest works by artists who had been to France. In 1886 the Artists’ Association was established as an alternative to the Academy of Art.

Krouthén is linked with the many depictions of apple trees in bloom and red, wooden houses he painted during the latter part of his career. This work is one of his early productions and depicts a young doctor and his family in their garden in Linköping. What stands out is the careful attention to detail and the accomplished rendering of the overall atmosphere of the scene – something sought after in 1880s plein-air painting and which was learnt in France.

Skagen

In the 1870s artists had already begun to go to Skagen on northern Jutland in Denmark. They were attracted by the strong light in the lowland sandy landscape and by the population of the little village. Creativity here took off seriously during the 1880s when artists returned from France to find in Skagen a light and a population similar to those they had painted in France. Artists from all over Scandinavia travelled to Skagen and their works are synonymous for many people with what was called “Nordic Light” elsewhere.

This work depicts the classroom in the small school in Skagen. The teacher, dressed in black, resembles a Madame Henriksen who can be seen in several paintings with motifs from Skagen by Björck and other artists. No time was wasted – while the boys concentrate on their reading their teacher is spinning wool.

The Century of the Child

Attitudes to children and their place in the family and in society changed during the 19th century after the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau provided a foundation for viewing children which meant for instance that their open-mindedness in their approach to the world could set an example for adults. In 1900 Ellen Key published The Century of the Child, in which she launched a view of children as individuals in their own right and the importance of development based on these terms. This had its impact on art around the early years of the century, and children played a greater role and were depicted as freer than ever before.

Elsa Backlund-Celsing uses broad brushstrokes to depict how the coffee table is set in her family home in Medelpad. The painting clearly displays how room is made for the children in the home. Her son Anders is carrying a bowl of fruit and her eldest son Gustaf can be glimpsed on the far left. Elsa was born in Russia to Swedish parents and while young she studied painting at private academies in Saint Petersburg and Paris and also for Anders Zorn in Mora.

Nordic Symbolism

In the 1890s art took on new directions in France. Several Nordic artists began to take an interest in what was called symbolism. This still involved depicting the world around them, but not in the same accurate and crystal-clear way as before. Instead they based works on people’s inner feelings and attempted to render moods and atmospheres that affected the viewers at an emotional rather than an intellectual level. Everything, from portraits to landscapes, could be painted from this aspect.

Olof Sager-Nelson travelled to Paris in 1894, where he encountered French symbolism, that would influence him for the rest of his short life. Foster-Brothers depicts a boy and a young man in a twilight landscape. The boy is looking with a heavy gaze, while the young man is holding onto the boy and looking tenderly at him. Sager-Nelson devoted himself largely to figure paintings of this sort, calling them portraits morals, or “soul portraits”.

Gauguin as a Source of Inspiration

Paul Gauguin began as an impressionist but then shifted to painting landscape and genre paintings in a simplified style and bold colours. This was a way of coming to terms with the naturalism and impressionism of the day that he considered too superficial. By painting in a way inspired by African and Japanese art, for instance, he aimed to render France more enigmatically. He wanted to paint the world around him as if he was seeing it for the first time and make the viewer feel the same. Artists all over Europe followed his lead, among them several Swedish painters who viewed their own country with the same eyes.

In October 1888 Gauguin arrived in Arles in the south of France, where Vincent van Gogh was already staying. During the autumn the two artists lived and worked together. Tensions arose between them and the episode came to a dramatic end when, after a violent quarrel, van Gogh cut off a piece of his ear. In his landscape motifs from Arles Gauguin paints natural shapes as decorative fields in bright colours. The artist is rendering the countryside according to his inner vision instead of trying to depict it.

The Varberg School

Richard Bergh, Nils Kreuger and Karl Nordström went to Varberg in the years between 1893 and 1896 to paint. They had returned from France to take part in the creation of a new national art and realised that they needed to leave Stockholm to succeed in doing so. In Varberg and its environs they found the motifs that fitted in with their vision of the typically Swedish countryside. Unfolding and evocative, it also bore the stamp of many generations of farming. There were also prehistoric sites of different kinds that testified to the country’s long and abundant history.

In Spring in Halland Nils Kreuger focuses on the lines ploughed into the meadow landscape, which create decorative patterns in the soil. Kreuger has emphasised these lines with ink on top of the oil paint, almost the only Swedish artist to do so. This created a special stylising effect together with the fundamentally fairly realistic oil painting.

Art, Music and Litterature

The different art forms have been linked to different degrees during various epochs. During the late 19th and early 20th century, points of contact comprised, in particular, pronounced ambiences, for instance twilight, enigmatic landscapes and melancholy. Artists, composers and writers met frequently and it was not uncommon for them to belong to the same artistic fraternities.

Werenskiold’s portrait of Edvard Grieg has the monumentality of a large statue. The composer is depicted side on and gazing pensively upwards, as if seeking divine inspiration. Behind Grieg hangs a woven tapestry with a forest motif, that recalls his natural romantic works that were often linked to the Norwegian landscape and folk music and is viewed as Norway’s first national music.

Illustrations Art

The rapid development of illustration art during the second half of the 19th century was a result of both contemporary artistic trends and new technological breakthroughs. Colour lithography and photolithography, photogravure and heliography now made it possible to produce detailed colour prints that were faithful to the original. The 1842 public education reform that led to greater literacy was also important. Democratic social developments offered greater scope for printed illustrations. Altogether this led to a boldness of artistic expression and technical proficiency that made the period the heyday of illustration art.

John Bauer’s illustrations for the series of Christmas publications entitled Tomtar och troll [Goblins and trolls] have become independent of the stories they originally illustrated. They have come to symbolise Sweden’s ancient forests, populated by trolls and wood nymphs. Even though we perceive these works as typically Swedish, Bauer took his inspiration from contemporary British book illustrations, in particular from Arthur Rackham’s (1867–1939) elegant and magnificent colour illustrations in colour.

Twilight Interiors

Around the end of the 19th century, interiors became increasingly popular motifs. The twilight that descended on the countryside is often encountered indoors in social scenes and portraits. The dim light made rooms more intimate and at the same time could enhance the feeling of the compact “Nordic” darkness outside. It became common for artists to choose motifs in which they depicted their companions in candlelight.

Astrid Setterwall-Ångström was an artist and writer. She was one of the few Swedish artists who travelled to the USA and Canada on study trips. Gerda Roosval-Kallstenius portrays her with a book in her hand. The portrait is beautiful, but Astrid Ångström is not depicted as a passive beauty posed to be admired. Her pose and facial expression express integrity and her gaze confronts the viewer with self-assurance.

Monumental Twilight

The most striking paintings from this period render twilight motifs on a monumental scale. Their size was used to emphasise the mood in the landscape and urban settings. The large format also involved effective renderings of twilight and the light at night in the north. In most cases these motifs are devoid of figures and this enhances the experience of the silent, melancholic remoteness that was viewed as typically Nordic.

Eugène Jansson made his breakthrough with landscapes and cityscapes in a blue tone of twilight or morning. Jansson exploited the status of the city as a literary scenery, established in 19th century novels by numerous French authors and in Sweden by August Strindberg. The city developed its own mythology and it is possible to see and use Jansson’s suggestive scenes to explore it with one’s own imagination against that literary background.