Genvägar 1901

Eugène Jansson made this painting, Genvägar, with what looks like oil paint, and you can see his thinking-through-making right there on the surface. The whole painting shimmers with pale blues and whites, capturing a frozen landscape with a kind of melancholic beauty. There's a real tactile quality to it; the paint isn't overly thick, but you can see how he's layered it to create depth and texture, especially in the foreground where the snowbank is. Notice the way the paint kind of drags and catches, giving a sense of the cold, crisp air. And those lines across the ice, those little marks suggesting paths or cracks – they’re so delicate, almost like whispers. Jansson reminds me a bit of Vilhelm Hammershøi, that quiet, interior mood, but set loose in a landscape. Both artists seem more interested in feeling their way through the world than any kind of clear meaning.