BRUNO LILJEFORS. “Lurking fox”.

Oil on canvas, 61,5 x 46 cm, including frame 83 x 68 cm. Signed and dated Bruno Liljefors 1887.

PROVENANCE
Bukowski Auktioner, Stockholm, auction 466, “Internationale vårauktionen”, 25-28 April 1989, cat no 119 (illustrated full page in colour in the catalogue, page 41).
Private collection (acquired at the above auction).
Bukowski Auktioner, Stockholm, auction 520, “Internationale vårauktionen”, 29-31 May 2001, cat no 122 (illustrated full page in colour in the catalogue, page 57).
Private collection (acquired at the above auction).
Bukowski Auktioner, Stockholm, auction 577, “Höstens Klassiska” cat no 69
Private Collection (Acquired at the above auction)

EXHIBITIONS
ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, “Johannes Larsen & Bruno Liljefors. Life in Nature”, 2005 (depicted full page in colour in the catalogue under the title “Raev lurking on drosler”).

LITERATURE
Allan Ellenius, “Bruno Liljefors -Natueren som liv rum”, 1996, illustrated full page in colour p. 60.

The fox emerged early as a recurring motif in Bruno Liljefors’ artistic oeuvre. Alongside the cat—another of his favorite animals—the fox symbolized a graceful and agile predator, perpetually on the hunt. Liljefors’ fascination with depicting these creatures dates back to his earliest years as an artist, when he began capturing the natural, dynamic movements of wild animals.

One of the most significant influences during his youth was Carl Friedrich Deiker, a renowned animal painter who acted as his mentor while he studied in Düsseldorf. In a letter from 1882, Liljefors wrote: “I have been introduced to a quintessential animal painter, Professor Deyker—a genial old man and an avid hunter, incidentally—with numerous wild boar tusks and other trophies hanging from his watch chain. The walls are lined with countless guns, knives, antlers, and stuffed goshawks in combat—Deiker paints amazing things, and I am deeply impressed by his work.”

Liljefors had arrived in Düsseldorf after leaving the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, dissatisfied—like many of his contemporaries—with the institution’s outdated methods. Despite his reservations about the academy, he appreciated his landscape painting teacher P.D. Holm, who had a background as a taxidermist and had once considered becoming an animal painter himself.

Liljefors’ artistic development is clearly evident when comparing two paintings from the 1880s. In Captured Fox (1881), we see a young artist still exploring his voice, working within the academic tradition. Yet just three years later, in "Fox Stalking Ducks" (1884), he had—at the age of only 24—already found his own, more dynamic and nature-based style, influenced by study trips to Germany and France. Here, he does not merely portray the animal, but also the natural conditions and surroundings in which it lives. Professor Allan Ellenius described this as Liljefors depicting “nature as a living habitat.”

"Lurking fox" is a brilliant example of Liljefors’ ability to capture nature’s tension—a masterwork within his celebrated series of fox motifs. Ellenius describes the painting as “a light-suffused landscape in which the animals tend to disappear into the loosely painted foliage. It is up to the viewer to discover and reflect upon the details that suddenly bring the scene to life.”

The artist’s skillful use of camouflage and dynamic composition renders the painting both subtle and dramatic—an instant in which Darwin’s insights into the harsh realities of nature are powerfully immortalized on canvas for the viewer.

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