“Never before have we seen the river valleys of northern Sweden rendered in this way; never has the desolate grandeur of Lapland and the mountain expanses been interpreted as it has by Helmer Osslund.”

The critic Gustaf Upmark wrote this after visiting the artist’s exhibition at Konstnärshuset in Stockholm in the autumn of 1909. The exhibition marked Osslund’s breakthrough, and it was his depictions of the landscapes of northern Sweden that attracted the greatest attention. These are still the landscapes for which Osslund is best known and most cherished, and in this auction we are pleased to present four such works.

In 1894, the 27-year-old Osslund moved to Paris. He studied intermittently at Académie Colarossi, where many of his Scandinavian artist colleagues had previously studied. Through the school, Osslund came into contact with the at that time relatively unknown artist Paul Gauguin, who taught the Swede for six to eight weeks between February and April 1894. Despite the brief period he spent with Gauguin, the Frenchman’s Synthetism made a profound impression on Osslund.

Back in Sweden, Osslund settled in Fränsta, Medelpad, in 1898. From then on, Osslund devoted himself to landscape painting in northern Sweden until his death in 1938. It is often said that Osslund preferred painting in the autumn, owing to the splendour of the colours offered by nature. However, his countless summer, autumn and winter scenes clearly demonstrate his mastery of every season.