Flowers on the windowsill 1894

Editor: So, this is Carl Larsson’s “Flowers on the windowsill”, painted in 1894. It's a watercolour currently housed in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. It strikes me as a remarkably well-balanced composition. The interior domestic setting creates a serene atmosphere, but how do you see it? Curator: The composition, indeed, demonstrates a careful arrangement of forms. Note how the verticality of the window panes and the plants in their terracotta pots creates a grid-like structure, against which the curved lines of the child's form and the trailing vines provide a gentle contrast. How do these contrasting forms influence the image's affective qualities? Editor: I suppose it stops the whole scene from feeling too rigid. The curves soften it, making it more inviting. It almost has a flattened perspective. Curator: Precisely. Larsson manipulates the pictorial space, seemingly flattening the perspective to emphasize the surface pattern and the interplay of colours. Consider the subdued palette of greens, reds, and yellows – how do these choices contribute to the overall impression of domesticity? Editor: I think the limited palette really contributes to the painting's unified feeling. The colours complement each other, and guide your eye around the scene in a way that more contrast might not. Is there anything more to explore with the semiotics in this work? Curator: We can consider the signs within the domestic space and what the painting tells us. The arrangement isn’t perfectly ordered, there is space left on the table for tools that give us additional access to their lives. Ultimately, this tells us something deeper about Swedish national identity through painting. What new insight did you gain? Editor: Thinking about how the structure and forms work to build the painting’s serene atmosphere has given me a whole new perspective. Curator: It’s through close analysis that we come to a greater appreciation for Larsson’s craft and insight.