Woodcutters in the forest 1906

Carl Larsson made this watercolor of woodcutters in a forest, but there are no dates on the artwork itself. I am very taken with the cool blues and greys used to capture a wintery scene. You can almost feel the crisp air! Larsson’s mark-making feels very fluid, gestural. I can really imagine him outside in the freezing cold with his paper and watercolors and just trying to capture the scene as fast as possible, the marks quickly building up to make the composition. The quickness of his mark-making almost feels like it is echoing the woodcutters’ actions. In this way, the act of painting and the scene become connected through rhythm. Painters learn so much from each other, and I would imagine that Larsson was also looking at work being made by other artists during his time. It’s lovely to consider how artists from different eras are in an ongoing conversation through their art, forever inspiring creativity across time!