Fishing Girl

Fishing Girl

Oil on canvas

Mått 100,00 x 73,00 cm Ram 121,00 x 93,50 x 6,50 cm

GKM 2013-96

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

A sturdy young woman in rough workday clothes is standing barefoot on the beach, gazing out to the calm sea, which reflects the white light from the sky. On the shoulder, she carries a shovel with which to collect mussels that she places in a basket. The landscape has been reduced to the basic elements of sky, sea and beach, rendered in a sensitive value painting. The mussel picker’s twisting movement and the shovel handle’s diagonal infuse the balanced composition with dynamism. The painting is typical of August Hagborg’s mature work, which received much acclaim in Paris. From 1877, on the Normandy coast where he spent the summers, he produced careful studies many of which he finished in his studio in Paris. The style may be realistic but there is a tendency towards idealisation – Hagborg does not produce snapshots of the fishermen’s lives; the depictions are carefully composed.

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