Tag Archives: Anders Zorn

Artist: Anders Zorn  (1860–1920)

Title: (Swedish: Sommarnöje)  (English: Summer Fun)

Genre: marine art

Date: 1886

Medium: watercolor paint on paper

Dimensions: height: 76 cm (29.9 in)

Collection: Private collection

Place of creation: Dalarö, Sweden

Inscriptions: Signature and date bottom left: Zorn -86

What I love about this painting:

I first featured this painting in February of 2024. I really like this image.

The way the lake is shown took me back to my childhood. I grew up in a house that faced directly onto a large lake, with a wide beach for swimming, a wooden dock, and few neighbors. It was a peaceful place in summer, although it could be dreary in winter.

The southern Puget Sound area usually experiences more overcast days in June than most people like. Many days, the waters and the sky look exactly as Anders Zorn has depicted them here.

Zorn’s brushwork is so meticulous, it is nearly photographic. He captures the feeling of the day, of the breeze, slightly sharp but not too cold, and the anticipation of going out on the water.

I like the story Anders Zorn is painting for us. I like that the male subject is maneuvering the small boat closer to the pier so she can jump in.

She is adventurous woman. Her skits are gathered and she’s prepared to make that leap.

About this painting, via Wikipedia:

Zorn painted Sommarnöje in Dalarö in the early summer of 1886, after the couple had returned from honeymoon but before they settled in Mora. He made a smaller sketch first, which measures 30.2 by 18.8 centimeters (11.9 in × 7.4 in), now held by the Zorn Museum in Mora.

The completed watercolor captures a fleeting moment and shows influence from the works of the French Impressionists that Zorn had seen while in Paris, but with a distinctively austere Scandinavian palette.

The painting depicts the artist’s wife Emma Zorn standing in a white dress and hat, waiting on the edge of a wooden pier beside the water, as their friend Carl Gustav Dahlström approaches in a rowing boat.

The reflective glassy surface of the water is rippling in a breeze, under cloudy grey skies. The figures, pier, boat and sea are finely rendered, almost as if the work was made in oil paint, showing Zorn’s skill as a watercolorist. Less attention is paid to the other side of the lake, sketched roughly in the background. It is signed and dated in the lower left corner, “Zorn 86”.

It was acquired by Edvard Levisson of Gothenburg, and then descended through the Schollin-Borg family. The painting was sold at the Stockholms Auktionsverk in June 2010 for SEK 26 million, setting a record for a Swedish painting.

About the Artist, via Wikipedia:

Zorn was born in Mora, Sweden, between the lakes of Siljan and Orsasjön. He studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm from 1875 to 1880, and then spent time travelling in Europe, painting watercolours and society portraits in London, Paris and Madrid.

He returned to Sweden in 1885, and on 16 October, he married Emma Zorn (née Lamm) (1860 – 1942). After spending their honeymoon abroad, in eastern Europe and Turkey, they returned to Sweden in 1886, spending time with Emma’s family at Dalarö, before settling near Mora, where their house, which is now the home of the Zorn Collections, is located.

---

Credits and Attributions:

IMAGE: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Sommarnöje (1886), akvarell av Anders Zorn.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sommarn%C3%B6je_(1886),_akvarell_av_Anders_Zorn.jpg&oldid=842907051 (accessed February 29, 2024).

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Sommarnöje,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sommarn%C3%B6je&oldid=1149795747 (accessed February 29, 2024).

Artist: Anders Zorn  (1860–1920)

Title: (Swedish: Sommarnöje)  (English: Summer Fun)

Genre: marine art

Date: 1886

Medium: watercolor paint on paper

Dimensions: height: 76 cm (29.9 in)

Collection: Private collection

Place of creation: Dalarö, Sweden

Inscriptions: Signature and date bottom left: Zorn -86

What I love about this painting:

This image, the way the lake is shown, took me back to my childhood. I grew up in a house that faced directly onto a large lake, with a wide beach for swimming, a wooden dock, and few neighbors. The southern Puget Sound area experiences more overcast days in June than most people like. Many days, the waters and the sky looked exactly as Anders Zorn has depicted them here.

Zorn’s brushwork is so meticulous, it is nearly photographic. He captures the feeling of the day, of the breeze, slightly sharp but not too cold, and the anticipation of going out on the water.

About this painting, via Wikipedia:

Zorn painted Sommarnöje in Dalarö in the early summer of 1886, after the couple had returned from honeymoon but before they settled in Mora. He made a smaller sketch first, which measures 30.2 by 18.8 centimeters (11.9 in × 7.4 in), now held by the Zorn Museum in Mora.

The completed watercolor captures a fleeting moment and shows influence from the works of the French Impressionists that Zorn had seen while in Paris, but with a distinctively austere Scandinavian palette.

The painting depicts the artist’s wife Emma Zorn standing in a white dress and hat, waiting on the edge of a wooden pier beside the water, as their friend Carl Gustav Dahlström approaches in a rowing boat.

The reflective glassy surface of the water is rippling in a breeze, under cloudy grey skies. The figures, pier, boat and sea are finely rendered, almost as if the work was made in oil paint, showing Zorn’s skill as a watercolorist. Less attention is paid to the other side of the lake, sketched roughly in the background. It is signed and dated in the lower left corner, “Zorn 86”.

It was acquired by Edvard Levisson of Gothenburg, and then descended through the Schollin-Borg family. The painting was sold at the Stockholms Auktionsverk in June 2010 for SEK 26 million, setting a record for a Swedish painting.

About the Artist, via Wikipedia:

Zorn was born in Mora, Sweden, between the lakes of Siljan and Orsasjön. He studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm from 1875 to 1880, and then spent time travelling in Europe, painting watercolours and society portraits in London, Paris and Madrid.

He returned to Sweden in 1885, and on 16 October, he married Emma Zorn (née Lamm) (1860 – 1942). After spending their honeymoon abroad, in eastern Europe and Turkey, they returned to Sweden in 1886, spending time with Emma’s family at Dalarö, before settling near Mora, where their house, which is now the home of the Zorn Collections, is located.

---

Credits and Attributions:

IMAGE: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Sommarnöje (1886), akvarell av Anders Zorn.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Sommarn%C3%B6je_(1886),_akvarell_av_Anders_Zorn.jpg&oldid=842907051 (accessed February 29, 2024).

[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Sommarnöje,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sommarn%C3%B6je&oldid=1149795747 (accessed February 29, 2024).