A masterful watercolour, In the Snow demonstrates how Larsson absorbed influences from Japanese aesthetics to create a work deeply evocative of the Swedish winter. While Larsson is best known for his scenes of family life at Lilla Hyttnas in Sundborn, Dalarna, the present composition presents a timeless image of the rural Nordic winter. It is doubtless for that reason that Larsson chose to exhibit it internationally: first in the UK and then in the major Scandinavian art exhibition touring the USA.
The local girls wear vibrantly-coloured traditional costumes, their footsteps leading back towards the maypole (Midsommarstång) which punctuates the landscape. This is in turn echoed by the bell-tower of the eighteenth-century church to the left, whose interior Larsson decorated five years earlier. With its small Swedish flag flying above, the maypole speaks to midsummer traditions, as painted most famously by Anders Zorn in Midsummer Dance of 1897 (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm). It also serves as a reminder of the passing of time and the turn of the seasons, bringing to mind midsummer at the opposite point in the year. Close inspection reveals incidental details typical of Larsson's wit, such as the two ducks on the stream, or the horse-drawn sleigh in the far distance. Larsson's lyrical depiction of snow-laden fir trees bears comparison with the winter scenes of his contemporary Gustav Fjaestad.
In the Snow was one of ten works selected by Larsson for the Exhibition of Contemporary Scandinavian Art, which toured New York and Chicago (where this work was shown) as well as Buffalo, Toledo and Boston. Organised by the American-Scandinavian Society, the exhibition was held under the patronage of King Gustav V of Sweden, Christian X of Denmark, and Haakon VII of Norway, and was organised in collaboration with eminent art historians from each of the three countries: Karl Madsen, Jens Thiis, and Carl G. Laurin. Five works by the Norwegian artist Harald Sohlberg were shown, including Fisherman's House, which like the present work was acquired by Byron Laflin Smith, and now hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago.
This lot will be sold with a letter from the artist to Byron Laflin Smith, its first owner. The letter reads as follows:
Sundborn, 2 April 1913. Dear Sir, Mr [Christian] Brinton the famous American critic of fine art, said to me when he paid me a visit – that surely this picture would find admirers in his country…This was right! And I am happy that you […] liked it so much that you bought it. About the subject? At first: it represents my village, with church and dancing place. At second: the two little girls (in national costume) are daughters of a poor carpenter, Offellberg [?] This is all I can say about my watercolour painting… Once more: I thank you! Hoping that you will forgive my bad English – and that you never will be tired to regard and like my “In the Snow” I am always yours truly Carl Larsson’
