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began his career in the circle of Carl XV, and died in 1934,
at the age of about ninetynine years.
A change took place, however, during the latter years of the
reign of Carl XV. Paris again attracted a number of Swedish
artists, and about 1870, the historical painters Gustaf
Cederström and Nils Forsberg, as well as Hugo Salmson the
genre-painter, and Alfred Wahlberg the landscape painter, were
domiciled there. French realism was the lode-star, and thanks
to a handful of somewhat younger Swedes who, enticed by the
successes of their fellow-countrymen, betook themselves to
Paris, open-air painting became popular in Swedish art. Their
ideals were the Salon masters, with Bastien-Lepage and Bonnat
at the head.
Most of those artists who were to create the distinctly
national Swedish art of 1890—1900, belonged to the Swedish colony
in Paris, at the beginning of 1880. When, towards the middle
of the eighth decade, these painters returned to their native
land, several of them founded in 1885 the Artists’ Society
(Konstnärsförbundet) and, enthusiastic for outdoor painting
and conscious of a mastery of the new artistic means of
expression, they declared war against the prevailing academic
art.
The Swedish landscape now became the object of a direct
and more profound attention. Not only were the motifs taken
from the homeland, but an artistic style was achieved which
was original and congenial in its relationship with the subject.
The colouring is deep and rich, the drawing and composition
monumentally simplified, and the lyrical interpretations of
Swedish nature created during 1890—1891 constitute a national
art in the highest sense.
Ernst Josephson paints his variations of the »water sprite»
(näcken), Karl Nordström the bleak and sterile nature of the
West coast, while Carl Wilhelmson portrays its simple
fisher-folk; Prince Eugen paints pictures of Djurgården and the
environs of Stockholm, Eugène Jansson depicts the »blue
summer-night» of Stockholm, Nils Kreuger Öland, with its horses
and cattle, and Herman Norrman the meagre Småland
counUy-side. Zorn gains a world-wide fame with his Dalecarlian girls
20
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