The Artist´s Wife

The Artist´s Wife

1886

Oil on canvas

Mått 115,50 x 89,00 cm Ram 153,50 x 127,50 x 14,00 cm

GKM 0195

Gift of Pontus Fürstenberg, 1886

Among Bergh’s portraits from the 1880s is one of his wife painted in Paris in 1886. A young woman meets our gaze with a hint of a smile playing on her lips. Her open hands rest on the sewing in her lap. She is seated to the left, but with her body leaning to the right and head turned to face the viewer. White light falls from the window behind her through the thin net curtains. The right of the picture, where the fire in the stove glows in red, is in shadow, creating contrast to the woman’s bright face. The same is true of her black, high-necked jacket. The French influence is particularly noticeable in the background, with its more sketchily rendered areas. At the same time, there is a certain calm to the composition, the method, and the subdued colours that is reminiscent of a much earlier era in the history of art, while the armchair on which the woman sits is reminiscent of Renaissance furniture. At the time, the painting was read as an image of the good wife, supporting her husband and creating a caring and safe home. Undeniably, the set table, the pot plants in the window, the lit fire, and the teapot warming on the stove all speak of domesticity. The woman is Bergh’s first wife, Helena Maria Klemming. They married in 1885, but she died of throat cancer just four years later. Richard Bergh took her death very hard, and suffered from a prolonged depression. His loving relationship with her is palpable in this tender portrait. Kristoffer Arvidsson from The Collection Gothenburg Museum of Art, Gothenburg 2014

Stiftelsen Modums Blaafarvaerk, 12/05/2018 - 23/09/2018, no. 32 Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, 25/10/1985 - 06/01/1986, no. 13 Stockholm, Blanchs konstsalong, 1886 Stockholm, Kungl. Akademien för de fria konsterna, 1949, no. 52 Paris, Société des Artistes Français, Palais de Champs Elysées, 1886 Paris, 1889, no. 10

Tor Hedberg, Richard Bergh. En studie, Ljus, Stockholm 1903., p. 29-32, ill. p. 17 (bild 3) Einar Rosenborg, Svenska konstnärer 3. Ernst Josephson, Richard Bergh, Karl Nordström, Carl Wilhelmson, J. A. Lindblads Förlag, Uppsala 1926, p. 27-30, ill. p. 30 Axel Gauffin, Richard Bergh 1858–1919. Minnesutställning i Kungliga akademien för de fria konsterna, Norstedt och söner, Stockholm 1949, no. 52 Georg Nordensvan, "I Göteborgs Museum. Några intryck af Georg Nordensvan", Ord & Bild, red. Karl Whålin, Ord & Bild/Wahlström & Widstrand, 1906, p. 22-23, ill. p. 24 Georg Nordensvan, Svensk konst och svenska konstnärer i nittonde århundradet. II. Från Karl XV till sekelslutet, Ny, grundligt omarbetad upplaga, Albert Bonniers Förlag, Stockholm (1925) 1928, p. 258, 281, ill. p. 282 Sixten Strömbom, Konstnärsförbundets historia till och med 1890, Albert Bonniers förlag, Stockholm 1945, p. 233, 235, 240, 242, 365, ill. p. färgplansch XI Margareta Gynning, Det ambivalenta perspektivet. Eva Bonnier och Hanna Hirsch-Pauli i 1880-talets konstliv, diss., Stockholm, Uppsala universitet, Albert Bonniers förlag 1999, p. 24, ill. p. 24 Paris, Exposition Universelle de 1889. Beaux-Arts 1789-1889. Catalogue Illustre des Beaux-Arts, red. F-G Dumas, Paris 1889., no. 10, p. 114 Carl G. Laurin, Nordisk konst IV. Sveriges och Finlands konst från 1880 till 1926, P. A. Norstedt & Söners Förlag, Stockholm 1926, p. 110 Axel Gauffin, Richard Bergh. 60 reproduktioner efter fotografier af originalen, Gleerupska universitets-bokhandeln, Lund 1913, ill. p. 16 Georg Pauli, Eugen. Målningar, akvareller, teckningar, Albert Bonniers Förlag, Stockholm 1925, p. 4 Georg Pauli, Opponenterna, Albert Bonniers förlag, Stockholm 1927, p. 250 Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, 1880-tal i nordiskt måleri, red. Pontus Grate och Nils-Göran Hökby, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm 1985., no. 13, p. 66, ill. p. 68 Axel L. Romdahl, Göteborgs konstmuseum. Tvåhundra bilder med inledande text av Axel L. Romdahl, Medéns bokhandels aktiebolag, Göteborg 1925., ill. p. 125 Axel L. Romdahl, Konstmonologer i Göteborgs Museum, P. A. Norstedt & Söners Förlag, Stockholm (1911) 1921, p. 53-54, ill. p. 55 Kristoffer Arvidsson, Per Dahlström, Björn Fredlund, Anna Hyltze, Philippa Nanfeldt, Isabella Nilsson, Johan Sjöström, Samlingen Göteborgs konstmuseum, red. Kristoffer Arvidsson, Per Dahlström, Anna Hyltze, Göteborgs konstmuseum, Göteborg 2014., p. 223-224, ill. p. 223 no. 32, p. 72, ill. p. 73 Axel L. Romdahl, "Göteborgs Konstmuseum", Konstrevy, specialnummer om Göteborg, årg. XV, red., 1939., ill. p. 8