{"product_id":"carl-johan-forsberg-the-bacino-di-san-marco-venice-1927","title":"CARL JOHAN FORSBERG - THE BACINO DI SAN MARCO, VENICE, 1927","description":"\u003cp class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCARL JOHAN FORSBERG (1868–1938) Sweden\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ci\u003eTHE BACINO DI SAN MARCO, VENICE, 1927\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003einscribed and dated lower left “VENEZIA XXVII” \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eand signed lower right “CARL JOHAN FORSBERG”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003eunframed 65 × 47 cm (25.6 × 18.5 in)\u003cbr\u003eframed 89 × 71 cm (35 × 28 in)\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003ewatercolour on paper\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEssay:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eIn this expansive view across the Bacino di San Marco, Carl Johan Forsberg places the maritime life of Venice at the centre of the composition. A traditional sailing vessel dominates the foreground, its ochre sails rising dramatically against an intense blue sky, while beyond it the most celebrated monuments of the Venetian waterfront form an intricate architectural panorama. The Campanile di San Marco rises at the left, while the Doge’s Palace, the domes and towers surrounding the Piazza, and the buildings extending eastwards along the lagoon establish the unmistakable setting.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe vessel in the foreground belongs to the traditional world of the Venetian lagoon. Its rig resembles the \u003cem\u003evela al terzo\u003c\/em\u003e, the characteristic form of lug sail used by several types of working boats in Venice and the northern Adriatic. Such sails were frequently coloured in ochre, brown, red and black and decorated with geometric signs, religious emblems or marks identifying a family or vessel. Forsberg carefully records this visual culture. The broad golden sail carries dark linear symbols, while a smaller brown sail rises behind it. Figures at work aboard the boat emphasize that this is not merely a picturesque ornament but part of the working life of the lagoon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eForsberg’s approach to Venice is particularly revealing when considered in relation to his background. Born in Stockholm in 1868, he initially trained in architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology between 1889 and 1893 and subsequently attended the building school of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. He also studied etching under Axel Tallberg. This architectural formation remained visible throughout his career. Buildings, coastlines and landscapes were often organized through clear contours and carefully balanced planes rather than dissolved into atmospheric impression.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat quality is strongly present here. Forsberg does not treat Venice as a fleeting effect of light. The Campanile, the façades surrounding San Marco and the sailing boat are described almost architecturally. Their outlines remain precise even within the transparent medium of watercolour. At the same time, the reflections beneath the boat loosen into horizontal and vertical strokes of turquoise and green, giving the lower part of the sheet a freer rhythm. The contrast between precise structure and decorative surface is characteristic of Forsberg’s highly individual approach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTravel played an essential role in his art. He worked extensively outside Sweden and produced subjects in Switzerland, France, Italy, Greece, North Africa, Denmark and Norway. His Italian travels had begun decades earlier, yet he continued returning to southern subjects. Another known watercolour, \u003cem\u003eFrascati, Villa Falconieri\u003c\/em\u003e, is inscribed March 1927. The present sheet, dated simply Venice 1927, together with the accompanying view of Palazzo Priuli dated May of that year, suggests a renewed Italian journey during the spring of 1927.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eForsberg occupied an unusual position in Scandinavian art. He exhibited comparatively little and for much of his life remained outside the artistic mainstream. His major Symbolist watercolour \u003cem\u003ePax\u003c\/em\u003e, painted in 1905, was regarded by Forsberg himself as one of his most important works. In 2022 it was acquired by the Musée d’Orsay. The museum subsequently acquired his \u003cem\u003eNizza (Nice)\u003c\/em\u003e of 1903 in 2025. Both works were included in the Musée d’Orsay presentation \u003cem\u003eNorthern Light\u003c\/em\u003e in 2026, part of a broader reassessment of Nordic artists who had long remained outside the established canon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe present Venetian view belongs to a later and more descriptive phase of Forsberg’s work, yet the qualities that distinguish his earlier watercolours remain evident. The almost unreal saturation of the sky, the flattened silhouettes of architecture, the ornamental sails and the patterned reflections transform an observed view into something more personal. Venice becomes at once a recognizable city and a carefully ordered decorative vision, filtered through the eye of an artist whose first education had been architectural and whose mature art continually moved between observation, design and imagination.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CLASSICARTWORKS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54805649162563,"sku":null,"price":68748.0,"currency_code":"SEK","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0115\/6005\/8976\/files\/B0009416-5.jpg?v=1789123276","url":"https:\/\/www.classicartworks.com\/ar\/products\/carl-johan-forsberg-the-bacino-di-san-marco-venice-1927","provider":"CLASSICARTWORKS","version":"1.0","type":"link"}