Julia Beck

After completing her studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm between 1873-1878, Julia Beck moved to Paris, where she would spend the rest of her life. Beck was one of the first Scandinavians to discover the small village of Grèz-sur-Loing, located a few kilometres from the Forest of Fontainebleau, where she would stay for a total of three years (1882-1885). In recent years, Beck's artistic career has received increased attention in literature, documentaries, and museums. One aspect that is increasingly highlighted is how international Beck's art was in comparison to many of her contemporaries.

The painting in the auction was created during Beck's stay in Beaumont-le-Roger in Normandy, where she lived between 1887-1888 before permanently moving to Vaucresson in September 1888. Her landscape paintings from Normandy can be seen as the result of direct studies from nature, as much as they can be regarded as atmospheric mood pictures. During the summer in Normandy, the high humidity enveloped the vegetation and the forms of the landscape in a soft, misty glow, a glow that Beck has depicted with a sense of atmosphere in the painting up for auction.