1900
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Evening Mood-Lidingö is a 1900 unspecified by Eugène Jansson, a Post-Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a dark field at dusk, trees swallowing the last light, and a single star glowing above. Jansson painted this spot near Stockholm over and over, as if chasing the same quiet moment. His thick, swirling brushstrokes make the air feel heavy, like the world is holding its breath. Most of his work stayed in Sweden, so this painting is rare in the U.S. Look up the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch next—Jansson saw his work early and borrowed some of its mood.
The swirling brushstrokes and telescopic perspective in this view of a field near Stockholm, Sweden, converge on the dark mass of trees and dying sunset in the center. Feelings of melancholy and loneliness are relieved only by the appearance of the first evening star. Although little known in the United States, Eugène Janssen was one of the most important artists of Scandinavian modernism. He became aware of the works of the Norwegian Symbolist Edvard Munch as early as 1884 and shared Munch’s ambition of exploring psychological states of mind rather than adhering to external appearances.
Jansson, known as the "Blue Painter," was called "Paraffin Jansson" by other artists because the light in his paintings reminded them of the light from the paraffin (kerosene) lamps widely used in houses at the time.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Eugène Fredrik Jansson (18 March 1862, Stockholm – 15 June 1915, Nacka) was a Swedish painter known for his night-time land- and cityscapes dominated by shades of blue.
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