Louis Sparre - Moonlight in Autumn, Gotland (Månsken Höst, Gotland) 1920
Regular price 26 921 krLouis Sparre 1863–1964
Moonlight in Autumn, Gotland (Månsken Höst, Gotland) 1920
executed in 1920
oil on canvas laid board
unframed: 20.5 × 28.5 cm (8.07 × 11.22 in)
framed: 32 × 40 cm (12.60 × 15.75 in)
Månsken Höst, Gotland (Moonlight in Autumn, Gotland), executed in 1920, is a landscape depicting a moonlit shoreline on the island of Gotland. Sparre employs a restrained palette of greys, muted blues, and earth tones, enhancing the nocturnal atmosphere and conveying the introspective stillness of an autumn night. The composition is understated yet evocative, with distant silhouettes and subtle reflections that demonstrate the artist’s sensitivity to natural light.
Louis Sparre spent extended periods on Gotland from the 1910s onward, maintaining a summer residence on the island for several decades. Its distinctive coastal landscapes, shifting light, and historical environments provided him with a rich source of motifs. During these years he produced a significant body of drawings, watercolours, and prints inspired by Gotland’s scenery, including both its medieval architecture and its maritime vistas. The present work, painted in 1920, reflects this engagement with the island’s natural character, particularly Sparre’s interest in atmospheric conditions and the meeting of land and sea under changing light.
The Artist
Louis Sparre was a Swedish painter, printmaker, and designer whose career spanned more than seven decades. Trained in Paris at the Académie Julian, he was closely connected with Nordic artistic circles and played an important role in the early development of Art Nouveau in Finland, where he lived for many years. Sparre was a co-founder of the Iris workshop, an influential centre for artistically crafted furniture and applied arts at the turn of the century.
After returning to Sweden in 1908, he devoted himself primarily to painting and graphic work. Though aware of contemporary modernist movements, Sparre continued to cultivate a refined realism, characterized by careful observation and an emphasis on atmosphere. His oeuvre encompasses rural subjects, portraits, city views, and coastal landscapes—among them numerous depictions of Gotland that reveal his enduring fascination with the island’s distinctive light and topography.
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