Hilding Werner - Solnedgång (Sunset) 1925

Hilding Werner (1880–1944)

Solnedgång (Sunset) 1925

oil on canvas
signed and dated 1925.
unframed 48 × 78 cm (18.9 × 30.7 in)
framed 58 × 88 cm (22.8 × 34.6 in)

Condition:
Professionally restored in 2025 by Sonia Leon. 

Provenance:
Formerly in the Collection of Sven-Göran “Svennis” Eriksson, the internationally renowned Swedish football coach. (Certificate from the Eriksson family is included)

Essay:
Sunset (1925) depicts a serene lake in Värmland at the close of day, suffused with the golden light of dusk. In this composition, Werner captures one of his signature motifs: a broad, tranquil lake encircled by dense forested ridges and distant blue-tinged hills beneath a luminous twilight sky. Clouds gilded by the setting sun are mirrored in the still water, their reflections amplifying the scene’s radiant glow. A dark treeline in silhouette stretches along the horizon, its gentle ridge line framing the brilliance of the sky., The atmosphere is one of hushed tranquility and stämning (mood) nature presented in its most sublime and unspoiled aspect, entirely devoid of human figures, thereby emphasizing the landscape’s grandeur and spiritual resonance. Werner’s delicate handling of light and color is evident in the soft gradations of warm amber and cool blue hues, which convey not only the visual impression of sunset but also an emotional undertone of calm reflection.

The Artist
Hilding Werner was a Swedish landscape painter known for his romantic visions of the Värmland countryside. Active in the early 20th century, Werner played an important role in Swedish landscape painting of that era, as part of the late National Romantic movement. Born in the village of Kårud, Värmland in 1880, he maintained a lifelong connection to the region’s lakes and forests. Werner received his formal art education in Stockholm, enrolling in Richard Bergh’s progressive art school around 1900. Under Bergh – a leading figure of Swedish national romantic art – and other instructors like Anders Zorn and Nils Kreuger, Werner was encouraged to seek inspiration in Nordic nature and to internalize and “poeticize” its forms with feeling. This training instilled in him a deep appreciation for capturing the atmospheric mood of the Swedish landscape, a hallmark of Scandinavian painting at the time.

After his studies, Werner returned permanently to his native Värmland in 1907, establishing a studio in the rural village of Stömne. Back amid the wild forests and mirror-like lakes of western Sweden, he discovered the motifs that would define his oeuvre: panoramic vistas of vast lakes framed by woods and distant hills at dawn or dusk, as well as silent winter forests cloaked in snow. These subjects, often observed at twilight, allowed Werner to express what he called his “love and worship of Swedish nature.” He became essentially a romantic mood painter of his homeland, dedicated to portraying nature in tranquil, sublime moods. His landscapes typically omit human presence, focusing on nature’s grandeur and evoking a quasi-spiritual reverence for the land. In this respect, Werner’s art carried forward the 19th-century National Romantic ideal of finding national identity and solace in the Nordic wilderness.

Werner’s career in Värmland brought him into contact with the Rackstad colony (Racken Group) near Lake Racken outside Arvika – an influential artists’ community led by Gustaf Fjaestad, which was devoted to depicting the unspoiled Nordic landscape with spiritual and symbolic overtones. Werner shared with Fjaestad and his circle the conviction that nature harbored a spiritual essence best conveyed through art. Like those artists, he sought to infuse his landscapes with an almost mystical atmosphere, interpreting the scenery not just realistically but symbolically to communicate emotional or spiritual truths. Though friendly with Fjaestad, Werner remained something of a regional lone wolf; he never formally joined the Rackstad colony, preferring to work independently in his secluded studio while still drawing inspiration from their ideals. He later became one of the initiators of the Värmland Artists’ Association, further cementing his role as a key figure in the region’s art scene.

Stylistically, Hilding Werner’s work bridges late Scandinavian National Romanticism and early 20th-century Symbolism. His paintings are marked by a lyrical, often melancholy serenity and a deep patriotic love of the Swedish landscape, combined with a refined handling of light and color that reveals the influence of French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Werner was influenced by his mentor Richard Bergh and by contemporaries like Fjaestad, as well as by the earlier Swedish landscape master Otto Hesselbom, whose expansive horizons and twilight skies he often emulated. However, Werner’s technique was distinctly his own: he applied paint with a soft, skillful brushwork and nuanced color modulation that lent his canvases a particular sophistication and “fresh tidiness,” setting them apart within the Nordic landscape tradition. Critics have noted the saturated yet harmonious palettes in his scenes – for example, the use of violet and blue tones to impart a wistful, twilight mood – and the gentle, rounded forms that imbue his compositions with a dreamy, almost pantheistic lyricism.

Throughout his life, Werner remained profoundly devoted to the Värmland landscape. He seldom traveled abroad (aside from a brief study trip to the Netherlands in 1905), choosing instead to draw lifelong inspiration from Sweden’s own natural vistas. This steadfast focus on his native scenery was in line with a broader Scandinavian tradition of celebrating national identity through nature’s grandeur. Many of Werner’s works were acquired by collectors during his lifetime, attesting to their appeal. His legacy has since been honored with institutional recognition: the Värmlands Museum in Karlstad holds a collection of his art and mounted major retrospective exhibitions of his work in the 1950s and again in 2015. Today, Hilding Werner is esteemed as an important interpreter of the Nordic landscape – a painter who authentically captured the soul of Värmland with a reverent eye and masterful technique.

Sven-Göran Eriksson and "Sunset, 1925" on the wall.