Flottans Badhus 1907

Eugène Jansson’s "Flottans Badhus," maybe done around the turn of the century, gives us a scene full of figures bathing and lounging, painted with a kind of dreamy, hazy touch. The painting's surface has a really lovely, almost chalky texture, thanks to the way Jansson built up the paint, not too thick, but enough to catch the light and give everything a soft glow. Look how the cool blues and muted yellows create this tranquil, almost otherworldly atmosphere. What's interesting is the way he uses color to suggest light and shadow, blending the figures into the background, making them part of the environment. The guy leaning against the post in the foreground, for instance, you can almost feel the sun on his skin, but it's done with such subtlety. The whole thing reminds me a bit of Puvis de Chavannes, with that same kind of melancholic idealism. It leaves you with a feeling, like a memory of a perfect summer day that may or may not have actually happened.