Benjamin perronnet V5 - Flipbook - Page 85
Dans une interview publiée le 8 janvier 1990
dans le quotidien Dagens Nyheter, Signe
Jacobsson de Grundsund, l’un des enfants
représentés dans le tableau, se rappelle:
«...c’est ma sœur Cecilia et moi qui
sommes dans le tableau. J’avais neuf ans
et ma sœur cinq. Nous étions ses voisins
(de l’artiste), comme
la plupart des personnes 昀椀gurant sur
le tableau... ma sœur est assise sur les
genoux d’Emilia Edman, qui porte un
magni昀椀que châle tissé à la maison. Le
châle est conservé
au musée local de Skaftö».
Au verso est une étude pour une immense huile
sur toile, également réalisée en 1909, destinée
à décorer le salon de l’école de Göteborg,
Soirée au port (“Afton vid hamnen”) (Fig. 2).
L’œuvre, propriété des musées de la ville, est
actuellement déposée à la Nya Lundenskolan.
Study for Church-goers in a boat (Kyrkfolk i båt) (Fig. 1),
one of the artist’s great masterpieces, which was acquired
by Stockholm’s Nationalmuseum in 1914. Painted in 1909,
the large canvas shows eight 昀椀gures in a rowboat in the
foreground of the harbor of Fiskebäckskil, the artist’s
birthplace, as they return to their village across the bay.
Several other boats are in the background, while red-roofed
houses can be seen on the quays.
Art historian Axel Romdahl (1880-1951), director of the
Gothenburg Museum since 1905, describes the work as
«the most monumental, unexpected and symbol-saturated
of all the paintings of Swedish folk life». Romdahl was
Fig. 2. Carl Wilhelmson, Soirée au port, Göteborg,
Nya Lundenskolan
85
fortunate enough to follow the development of the painting
in the artist’s studio in Gothenburg for a few weeks in
autumn, and recounts how the work came into being with
the help of detailed sketches and photographs:
«I got to know the characters portrayed through
the many studies that 昀椀lled the studio. But it was
still something new and exciting to see how they
gradually took their place on stage. Indeed, here
came the old man in the bowler hat, here was the
little girl looking towards the water, the old lady
in the tartan shawl, she in the neighboring black,
white and red shawl re昀氀ected in the water, and
then the digni昀椀ed old man climbed aboard the
green canoe and took his place by the oars. The
water sparkled and re昀氀ected the clear summer air,
the yellow oak protruded its bow into the sun, and
here was the sailboat with the man holding the
bow. We experienced the creation of the painting
as a continuous event, full of life and excitement.»
In an interview published in the daily newspaper Dagens
Nyheter on January 8, 1990, Signe Jacobsson from
Grundsund, one of the children depicted in the painting,
recalls:
«...my sister Cecilia and I are in the picture. I was
nine and my sister was 昀椀ve. We were her (the
artist’s) neighbors, as were most of the people in
the painting... my sister is sitting on Emilia Edman’s
lap, wearing a beautiful home-woven shawl. The
shawl is kept in the local museum in Skaftö».
On the verso is a study for a huge oil on canvas, also
produced in 1909, to decorate the hall of the Gothenburg
School, Evening at the Port («Afton vid hamnen»)
(Fig. 2). The work, owned by the city’s museums, is currently
on deposit at the Nya Lundenskolan.