Hornsgatan 1902

This image is of Hornsgatan, by Eugène Jansson, and you can almost feel the artist standing there, brush in hand, as twilight descends. See how the dark blues and browns of the street rise up to meet the fiery orange and pink sky? It’s like Jansson is trying to capture that fleeting moment when day turns into night, that in-between space where everything feels a little uncertain. I imagine him, rapidly layering strokes, trying to get the colours just right before the light changes. Look closely, and you’ll see these tiny figures lining the street; they're like ghosts or shadows, swallowed by the gloom. They’re like us, lost in the immensity of the urban landscape. You know, painting is such an embodied process, you feel everything so deeply, and I think Jansson was trying to show us something about the mood of a city street and its inhabitants.