Olof Arborelius - River Landscape under Storm Clouds

Olof Arborelius (1842–1915) Sweden

River Landscape under Storm Clouds

signed lower left “Olof Arborelius”
oil on canvas
marked “110” verso
unframed 71 × 106.5 cm (28 × 41.9 in)
framed 82.5 × 116.5 cm (32.5 × 45.9 in)

Provenance:
A Swedish private collection.

Exhibition:
Probably Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet 1931, Stockholm, catalogue no. 110, where a painting by Olof Arborelius is recorded under the title Flodastuga.

Condition report:
Please contact the gallery for a detailed condition report.

Essay:
In River Landscape under Storm Clouds, Olof Arborelius presents the Swedish landscape at a moment of dramatic atmospheric change. A broad river sweeps through the composition in a pronounced curve, drawing the eye from the foreground towards distant hills beneath an immense and turbulent sky. Heavy clouds gather in layers of blue, grey, white and violet, while the fast moving water below catches their shifting light in broad strokes of silver and dark blue.

At the left, almost absorbed into the surrounding vegetation, stands a small group of timber buildings. From one of the cottages comes an intense orange glow. This minute point of warmth is among the most compelling details in the painting. Against the cold river, dark forest and unsettled sky, the illuminated house introduces a quiet human presence and gives scale to the surrounding landscape.

The painting is marked “110” on the reverse. An exhibition catalogue from Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet records under the corresponding number a work by Arborelius entitled Flodastuga. This raises the possibility that the present painting is the work listed in that catalogue. The title may refer to Floda in Dalarna, but without further documentary evidence the precise location cannot be established. The landscape itself could equally belong to another part of central or northern Sweden, including Jämtland.

Such northern landscapes occupied an important place in Arborelius’s art. Born in Orsa in Dalarna in 1842, he maintained a strong connection with the Swedish countryside throughout his career and repeatedly travelled in search of motifs. Rivers, farms, forests, mountain terrain and changing weather became recurring elements within his landscape painting.

Arborelius studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm from 1860 to 1868 and received the Royal Medal before travelling abroad on an Academy scholarship. Between 1869 and 1872 he encountered the artistic centres of Düsseldorf, Munich, Paris and Rome. He later became an influential teacher and was appointed professor of landscape painting at the Royal Academy in 1902.

Although his education was rooted in the academic landscape tradition, Arborelius gradually developed a freer and more immediate response to nature. He associated himself with the Opponents during the 1880s and absorbed aspects of contemporary open air painting. Weather, changing light and atmosphere increasingly became subjects in their own right.

The present painting demonstrates this development particularly clearly. Arborelius does not describe every detail of the terrain with equal precision. The foreground is constructed from vigorous passages of green, brown and ochre, while the river is painted with broad, sweeping strokes that convey both current and reflected light. Above, the clouds are handled with still greater freedom, their forms appearing to move rapidly across the landscape.

The curve of the river is central to the composition. Its pale surface leads the eye deep into the scene before disappearing behind the darker bank. This movement is echoed by the restless clouds overhead, giving the impression that land, water and sky have been caught within the same approaching change of weather.