Ols Maria 1919

Anders Zorn’s etching, Ols Maria, presents a young woman with a lute. Zorn, a prominent Swedish artist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, captured in this print the intimate life of rural Sweden. The artwork offers an intersectional perspective on gender and class. Maria’s identity as a musician challenges traditional representations of women. Typically, a rural woman might be rendered as a figure confined by domesticity or agrarian labor. Instead, Zorn depicts Maria in an active and creative role. Yet, she’s also marked by her class. Her plain dress and the rustic setting subtly speak to the realities of her social standing. "I depict life as I see it", Zorn once said, and there is an emotional depth to the work. Her upward gaze suggests a moment of artistic inspiration or perhaps reverie. The dark background emphasizes the personal, interior nature of her experience. In his work, Zorn invites us to reconsider the narratives we construct about the lives of those often unseen. He captures the intimate dimensions of a life, and, in doing so, recognizes and values the often overlooked emotional and creative experiences of women.