Osvald Lundgren - Vårvinter (Late Winter), 1928
Prix régulier 57 392,00 krOsvald Lundgren (1888–1977) Sweden
Vårvinter (Late Winter), 1928
signed and dated lower right “O. Lundgren 1928”
gouache on paper
unframed 29.5 × 24 cm (11.6 × 9.4 in)
framed 39.5 × 24.5 cm (15.6 × 9.6 in)
presented in a handmade walnut frame by Stockholms Förgyllning & Bildhuggeri.
Condition report:
The work is in very fine condition and was examined by conservator Lotta Möller in 2026.
Please contact the gallery for a more detailed condition report.
Essay:
Painted in 1928, Vårvinter belongs to the atmospheric landscape tradition with which Osvald Lundgren was most closely associated. The subject is characteristically Scandinavian: the brief transitional season when snow still covers much of the ground while stronger spring light begins to reveal rock, grass and vegetation beneath it.
Lars Osvald Lundgren was born in Gothenburg in 1888 and trained at Slöjdföreningens skola, where artistic education was closely connected to craftsmanship and design. Lundgren was active not only as a painter but also as a craftsman, designing book covers and working with lettering. This background is relevant to the present work, where close observation of nature is combined with a strong decorative sense.
The composition is carefully organized. Broad grey rock formations occupy the foreground, while sweeping passages of snow lead the eye towards a group of slender birches, a solitary pine and a small wooden building partly hidden in the landscape. The bright blue sky and low pale sun create a sense of clarity, while ochre grass, reddish vegetation and green lichens signal that winter is beginning to loosen its hold.
The Swedish title Vårvinter is especially evocative. It describes the late winter period when the landscape still appears wintry, yet sunlight, melting snow and exposed earth clearly announce the coming spring. Lundgren expresses this seasonal change through colour, placing cool whites and blues against warmer tones of ochre, rust and green.
His training in design is also visible in the way the landscape has been simplified into distinct shapes and rhythms. The birches form delicate linear patterns against the sky, while the curved foreground rock and diagonal snowfields guide the eye through the composition. The result is both naturalistic and highly structured.
Lundgren’s surviving biographical record is relatively modest, but contemporary sources consistently associate him with atmospheric landscapes from the Swedish west coast and the Stockholm region. Vårvinter shows how successfully he combined that landscape tradition with a refined sense of decorative order.
We believe in simplicity; Therefore, all orders ship to your door without any additional costs for transport. We use professional shipping companies and pack all orders carefully with special art shipping boxes. All prices on our website include international shipping and transport insurance.
Be aware that you as a customer are responsible for paying any taxes such as import tax in the country of destination (applies to orders outside the EU).
