Per Fischer - Moonlight Beyond the Lamps in the Railway Compartment, 1907
Regular price 61,804.00 krPer Fischer (1877–1974) Sweden
Moonlight Beyond the Kerosene Lamps in the Railway Compartment, 1907
oil on canvas laid on panel
painted 1907
unframed: 29.5 × 28 cm (11.6 × 11 in)
framed: 35 × 34 cm (13.8 × 13.4 in)
The reverse bears the artist's handwritten inscription describing the moment that inspired the painting, together with an authentication signed by Franck Fischer, dated 1918.
Provenance:
The artist's family, by descent, until we acquired it in 2025.
Essay:
This remarkable painting is among Per Fischer's most evocative and psychologically charged works. It depicts an elderly woman seated opposite the artist in a third-class railway compartment, illuminated by the warm glow of kerosene lamps while the cold blue moonlight shines through the window behind her.
Fischer records the exact moment that inspired the work:
"On a starry moonlit evening in November 1907, this old woman sat opposite me during a journey in a kerosene-lit third-class railway compartment between Lidköping and Skara."
More than a portrait, the painting captures a fleeting encounter transformed into a timeless meditation on solitude, travel, and the human condition. The dramatic contrast between the warm interior light and the cool nocturnal landscape creates a striking emotional tension, while the woman's deeply modelled features convey both dignity and quiet introspection.
Per Fischer was one of the more distinctive Swedish artists of the early twentieth century, combining Symbolist atmosphere with an acute sensitivity to light and psychological observation. Educated under Halfdan Strøm in Kristiania and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, he further refined his artistic vision through study travels in Italy, Sicily, and France. He exhibited widely in Scandinavia and internationally, while also establishing himself as one of Sweden's leading printmakers. From 1918, Fischer was associated with Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) in Stockholm as an interior designer, reflecting the breadth of his artistic practice. Today, his work is represented in the collections of the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, and the Gothenburg Museum of Art.
This painting represents Fischer at his finest: combining Symbolist atmosphere, sensitive psychological observation, and exceptional mastery of light.
Condition:
Preserved in very good, untouched original condition, retaining its original surface and colours. Housed in its original frame with a fine patina. The canvas shows an old crease, visible to the naked eye. The painting is ready to hang.
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