Wild Geese

Wild Geese

1916

Oil on canvas

Mått 96,00 x 175,00 cm Ram 122,00 x 200,00 x 5,00 cm

GKM 2013-82

Bequest of Gustaf Werner (1859–1948) to the City of Gothenburg. Transferred to the Gothenburg Museum of Art in 2013.

The wildlife painter Bruno Liljefors was a naturalist who, despite influences from both impressionism and Japanese woodblock printing, continued to base his art on a careful observation of the natural world. This makes his images credible. Even when Liljefors works in a more sketch-like manner, one senses that he knows exactly how a bird’s plumage or a fox’s coat appear in different light. This painting, of some wild geese at sea, is executed in a distinct impressionist style. The colours are heightened with the dark-blue water contrasting against the pink sky and the brown-green vegetation. The geese are rhythmically spread out in the pictorial field, with their necks and heads pointing in different directions to lead one’s gaze in a zigzag movement; first to the left and then back to the landscape with the windblown fence in the background. What are they looking for? Are they about to take off for warmer climes?

Göteborg, Göteborgs konstmuseum, 07/09/2013 - 17/11/2013