Riddarfjärden, Stockholm, 1898
Eugène Jansson
Swedish, 1862-1915
Oil on canvas, 115 x 135 cm
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, NM 1699

Riddarfjärden, Stockholm is one of the finest works from Eugène Jansson's "blue period", between around 1890 and 1904. It is also the first of three similar panoramic views from the artist's studio, in which, like Claude Monet, he chose to depict the same motif at different times and in different lights. In a manner characteristic of Jansson, this view of the city is at once highly stylized, in its play of rhythmically billowing forms, and topographically correct. As in all his works, a reality that is familiar to us is refashioned into a new, soul-endowed world. The dream-like mood is evoked by the interplay of vigorous brushwork and thinly diluted paint, which causes the surface to vibrate with life in subtle modulations of colour.

When Riddarfjärden, Stockholm was donated to the Nationalmuseum by a group of private individuals in 1899, it was only accepted after some discussion by the Museum's acquisitions committee.