GUSTAF FJAESTED (1868-1948). Northern Lights.

Oil on panel, 121 x 118 cm. Signed G Fjaestad.

Tonight, particles of the solar winds are thrown across the firmament and otherworldly colors are created in the encounter with our atmosphere. In the starry sky, a rare play of colors takes place that illuminates the dark night and causes millions of snow crystals to shine and sparkle.

The great naturalist Gustaf Fjaestad was born in Stockholm in 1868. At the Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied from 1891-1892, he, despite his artistry, did not come into his own. But as the natural man he was, he found courage and inspiration in the parallel open-air painting brought by his opponents from Paris. Fjaestad was able to see and learn from a freer landscape painting by the Association of Artists. Bruno Liljefors became a special mentor to him when he had to assist him in the work on the panoramas of Swedish landscapes for the Biological Museum. National Romanticism was now established in the country and with his forthcoming depictions of nature, Fjaestads managed the artistic development of his predecessors.

In the 1890s, Fjaestad had primarily sought to visit Värmland for skiing, and then found its artistic signature, a quiet forest in hoarfrost and heavy winter snow. Some twenty winter motifs had been included by him when it was time for Stockholm's proud Art and Industry Exhibition in 1897. Here Fjaestad met his future wife, the Scanian textile artist Maja Hallén. The two shared an interest in nature and the following year went up to Arvika where they would live with their friend, sculptor Christian Eriksson, in a timbered building with residence and studio, called Oppstuhage. In Arvika, there was a flourishing artisan spirit and togetherness that Gustaf and Maja enjoyed. They soon built their own house, Kampudden, and would become centralgestalter the growing artists' colony “Rackstadgruppen”, on Lake Racken.

Fjaestad's depictions of nature evolved throughout his long career. In his snow painting, he often stuck to a picture room with a near plane and center zone which allows the viewer to get close to the subject. In this manner, the works of the auction are executed in a very fortunate manner. From the viewer's place on a hill in front of another, a ski trail is visible, showing the connection between man and nature and leading one inward. The soft and decorative contours of the snow ramparts and branches are painted with the precision of the organic Art Nouveau style. The pointillist elements show a development in Fjaestad's mood painting, and make the small flakes shine and bring a special mystery to the subject.

In few other works there is a nature lyric compared to the one in the works of the auction. Fjaestad has managed to capture and convey the enchanting spectacle from outer space that meets our earth's snow-covered spruce and soil with precision and great feeling. The landscape invites us to enjoy and admire a magnificence in silence.

For further information and condition report, please contact cecilia.berggren@auktionsverket.se or amelie.axson.johnson@auktionsverket.se.