Located in Stockholm, Stockholm
Seascape with sailing boats and distant city at night. Probably Sweden, Signed "E.C" and dated 1920, oil on canvas. Mounted in a gilt wood frame.
A coastal or maritime landscape with several sailing boats on calm water, viewed towards a distant town or harbour at evening. A tall beacon or lighthouse rises from the rocky shoreline at right, while further along the horizon a low cityscape is visible against the fading sky. The boats are distributed across the water, with the largest vessel in the foreground providing the principal point of focus.
The painting is characterized by its restrained blue-green tonality and by the distinctive Nordic light, which remains visible across the night sky rather than giving way to complete darkness. Small warmer passages of ochre and red in the distant horizon and reflections provide contrast to the predominantly cool palette. The relatively broad and visible brushwork gives the surface an atmospheric quality while retaining the clearly defined forms of the boats, shoreline and distant buildings.
The work is dated 1920, although the identity of the artist has not yet been established.
The treatment of twilight and the lingering light of the northern sky places the work within a broader Scandinavian artistic interest that developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Around the turn of the century, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish artists repeatedly explored dusk, dawn and the transition between day and night. The Thiel Gallery has described this fascination with twilight and the particular Nordic light as a characteristic aspect of Nordic painting of the period, particularly among Symbolist and National Romantic artists.
This interest was not restricted to a single style. Artists such as Nils Kreuger, Karl Nordström, Richard Bergh and Eugène Jansson...
Category
1920s Other Art Style Art by Medium: Oil