Riddarfjärden, Stockholm
Eugène Jansson1898
Nationalmuseum Sweden
Stockholm, Sweden
Eugen Jansson's painting of the large expanse of water in central Stockholm known as Riddarfjärden uses the blues and purples that are so typical of his work from this period. He is even known by some as the "blue painter". His artist colleagues and friends knew his as paraffin Jansson because his blue paintings made them think of the warm light from paraffin lamps. His bold brushwork in dark colours and his striving to portray his feelings and impressions suggest a strong influence from Edvard Munch whose work Jansson saw at an exhibition in Stockholm in 1884.
Eugen Jansson's paintings are stylized. There are no people in them. They differ from the lively portrayals of modern urban life produced by the impressionists whose paintings are full of people in tune with modern life; the life of the boulevards, the department stores and the theatres. Eugene Jansson's views of Stockholm instead reflect the moods of the city – an interior as well as an exterior landscape.
In the painting, Riddarfjärden is seen from the artist's own studio on Mariaberget. Jansson spent the whole of his life in Stockholm. Unlike most of his colleagues from the Academy he did not go to Paris to study. He remained in Sweden, creating his highly personal impressions of Stockholm and its soul seen from his studio high up above the water.
- Title: Riddarfjärden, Stockholm
- Creator: Eugène Jansson
- Creator Lifespan: 1862/1915
- Creator Nationality: Swedish
- Creator Gender: Male
- Creator Death Place: Stockholm
- Creator Birth Place: Stockholm
- Date Created: 1898
- Title in Swedish: Riddarfjärden i Stockholm
- Signature: Eugène Jansson. 1898
- Physical Dimensions: w1350 x h1500 cm (without frame)
- Artist Information: Eugène Jansson came from a modest background as the son of a caretaker. His artistic education was somewhat sporadic, including periods at Edvard Perséus’ school of painting and, in 1881-82, at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. Jansson’s life was fairly uneventful; he remained largely self-taught as a painter, and only travelled outside Sweden later in life. In human terms he was something of a recluse, partly owing to hearing impairment brought on by illness. However, he developed a good report with the leading radicals who were opposed to the Academy, and was a member of the Artists’ Association (Konstnärsförbundet). Artistically, Jansson was one of the pioneers of twilight painting, which he imbued with a deeply personal character, dominated by blues. In 1891 he had moved to the Södermalm district of Stockholm, where he enjoyed a magnificent view of the city from his home. Here, over a period of more than ten years, he painted a series of grand panoramas of the capital at dusk and at dawn. His paintings have a strong visionary character and come across as syntheses of a complex play of color and light. This can be attributed to the fact that Jansson did not paint studies from nature, but first observed his subject over an extended period of time and then painted it in one go, without even sketching it out on the canvas.
- Type: Painting
- Rights: Nationalmuseum, Nationalmuseum
- Medium: Oil on canvas
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