I do not know much about this artist. I understand that he was born in Mora in Sweden, between two lakes (the Siljan and the Örasjön).. He studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts from 1875-1880 then spent time travelling around Europe, painting. The lady in the painting is Emma Zorn, the artist’s wife. The painting, to my astonishment, is a watercolour, and was rendered in 1886.
I love water in art. In my early appreciation of art and exploration of art galleries I found myself drawn to paintings with water. The Van de Velde ship scenes spoke to me most. The above is a staggering rendition of a lovely episode on the water. Zorn has somehow managed, in watercolour, to evoke the fluid movement of the water on the lake. The reflections of the sun on the water and the perspective change of the water as it recedes into the distance and the movement around the boat are deeply impressive. But the mastery of the medium is not only in relation to depicting water and light, it also extends to persons. Mrs Zorn is being helped into her boat by Carl Gustav Dahlström, a family friend. Both of these are depicted accurately, I like in particular Mrs Zorn’s dress. The boat itself is painted exquisitely. The tones of the wood are shown expertly.
But the overall beauty of the painting is striking for another reason. When we were in France earlier this month, Charlotte and I went to town cleaning a pedalo so we could go for a ride (water-cycle?) on a lake near my grandfather’s house. This touching scene is reminiscent of one which we had after I was swatting out spiders and clearing leaves. The following few hours pedalling, swimming, reading and listening to Chopin were some of the most magical in our lives. She also read me some Keats which may feature in an upcoming blog…