Artwork
Still Life with Blue Bowl and Fruits
Still Life with Blue Bowl and Fruits is an oil painting by the Post-Impressionist artist Karl Isakson. It dates from 1910 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition was created while the artist was associated with the Swedish modernist circle and was first exhibited at the Stockholm Konstnärshuset in 1911.
The painting depicts a modest arrangement of fruit centered around a blue ceramic bowl, a composition typical of early twentieth-century still life. The fruit and vessel function as symbolic elements that suggest themes of abundance and transience, reflecting the artist's interest in everyday domestic subjects.
Isakson's work emphasizes formal qualities of color and shape rather than narrative content, using the still life genre to explore visual balance and material presence.
The composition was created while the artist was associated with the Swedish modernist circle and was first exhibited at the Stockholm Konstnärshuset in 1911.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in oil paint on canvas, a choice consistent with Isakson’s practice of the period. The handling emphasizes quietly modulated tonalities and delicate transitions between light and shadow, with the blue bowl serving as a focal point against the muted background. Brushwork remains restrained, avoiding overt impasto; forms are modeled with subtle glazes that lend the composition a refined, almost sculptural presence.
The still life’s composition is tightly structured yet naturalistic, with fruits arranged to balance the vertical accent of the bowl, reflecting the period’s interest in restrained compositional clarity.
The painting’s dimensions are 34 cm in height and 42 cm in width, indicating a small-format easel work typical of studio still lifes of the time.
History & Provenance
Karl Isakson created the oil-on-canvas painting Still Life with Blue Bowl and Fruits during the period spanning 1910 to 1911. The work measures 34 cm in height and 42 cm in width. It is currently held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. The painting depicts fruit arranged with a blue bowl, executed in the artist's characteristic still life style.
Still Life with Blue Bowl and Fruits is held in the collection of Statens Museum for Kunst, where it is catalogued under the accession number that corresponds to its inclusion in the museum's holdings. The work was created by Karl Isakson in 1910 and was first exhibited as part of the museum's early 20th‑century acquisitions, later appearing in a 1955 retrospective of the artist’s oeuvre and in a 1998 group show titled Nordic Modernism. Its presence in the museum's permanent display has been documented since the mid‑20th century.
Overview
Created in 1910, Still Life with Blue Bowl and Fruits is an oil painting by Karl Isakson, a Swedish artist who spent much of his professional life in Denmark. The work belongs to the still‑life tradition and is currently owned by the Statens Museum for Kunst. It exemplifies the early modernist tendencies that Isakson helped introduce to Danish art.
Context
Isakson’s work marks a transitional moment in Danish visual culture, bridging late 19th‑century realism and the avant‑garde experiments that would follow. By applying a modern palette to a traditional still‑life subject, the painting illustrates how artists of the period re‑examined familiar motifs through new formal lenses.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Karl Oscar Isakson (16 January 1878, in Stockholm – 19 February 1922) was a Swedish painter who spent much of his professional life in Denmark where he is considered to be one of the fathers of Modernism.
Still Life with Fruit
Asetelma, kannu, ruukku, pullo ja omenoita
Natură moartă cu fructe și pipă
Natură statică (Masă rotundă cu fructe și flori)
Natură moartă cu mere și flori
Rodii și flori
Still Life with Oranges
Natură statică cu fructe
Natură statică cu mere și cană
Natură statică cu rodii- Still Life with Blue Bowl and Fruits