Discover Carl Fredrik Hill on Important Spring Sale
Bukowskis kan present no less than five fantastic works by Carl Fredrik Hill on Important Spring Sale.
When is the viewing and auction?
Viewing 27 May – 1 June, Berzelii Park 1, Stockholm, Stockholm.
Open: Mon–Fri 11 AM – 6 PM, Sat–Sun kl 11 AM –5 PM
Auction 2 – 4 June, Arsenalsgatan 2, Stockholm.
Carl Fredrik Hill 'Landscape with fruit trees'
"Landscape with fruit trees" immortalises the French river landscape around Brolles and Bois-le-Roi, a place which would play a decisive role in Carl Fredrik Hill's artistic development in the spring and summer of 1877.
Hill's biographer Adolf Anderberg writes in "Carl Hill. His life and his art", 1951: "Hill had now found a new place, Bois-le-Roi, a small idyllic community located on the railway line Fontainebleau, a few kilometres before reaching the latter town. It was a lucky coincidence that Hill came to stay there. It was probably the view he had from the cabin window, every time he travelled to or from the other places of residence in the Fontainebleau forest, enticing him to disembark at some point. After only a few hours of hiking, that Hill would feel like devoting this area a summer study is quite natural for one who on various occasions have followed in his footsteps ".
It seems strikingly probable that the present motif was carried out relatively soon after Hill arrived in the area at the turn of March/April. Spring, in this composition, still seems to be approaching, and the river bend is visible between the still bare tree trunks, which, at this stage, so far show only a modest hint of flowering.
"Landscape with fruit trees" can, in the light of the above reasoning, thus be regarded as a portal work from this critical period where the composition, in synthesised form, provides a summary overview that allows the viewer to guess the unique depictions of flowering fruit trees and river curves which, under almost frantic shapes, would be attached to the canvas of Hill before the summer passed in the fall of 1877.
Estimate: 294 695 - 392 927 EUR
Carl Fredrik Hill 'The Tree and the Road'
*When Carl Fredrik Hill, in the spring of 1877, Bois-le-Roi and Brolles arrived, it was as if a whole new world opened up for the artist. With intensity, Hill depicted the flowering fruit trees, and by the end of April, he had completed *"a dozen flowering landscapes." Erik Blomberg mentions "the harmony of happy love" that the landscape evoked.
"The Tree and the Road" is characterized by the artist's sense of light and atmosphere. Anderberg speaks of a "declaration of love of all this flowering and fragrant richness" and writes about the motifs of flowering fruit trees: "The white flower crowns of the fruit trees never float together with the white cloud wall. Pink touches, but also inserts of blue and green play a part in this colour scheme with unfailing certainty. Everything is added as if in a trance. Hill turns out to have discovered the deepest secrets of colour painting and is plays with them at will".
"The Tree and the Road" differs slightly from most of the other motifs with flowering fruit trees from this year. In the other paintings, you can often see Seine's characteristic river bend in the background. Here, Hill has instead chosen a more limited and closed horizon where the greenery piles up. Possibly he has turned around or moved the easel in the direction of the nearby railway track. In the present motif, however, a lush hedge runs diagonally into the picture space from the right side. It draws the viewer's attention to the figure, a woman (?), who appears to be walking on the path under the imposing treetop.
Estimate: 1 200 000 - 1 500 000 SEK (117 878 - 147 348 EUR)
Carl Fredrik Hill 'The tree and the riverbend'
This painting belongs to the above-mentioned suite of wide views of the Seine and has previously been exhibited under different, albeit often similar, names. The varying titles that accompanied the work highlight a problem regarding Carl Fredrik Hill's art. Usually, the artist seldom gave his own "official" title to his landscape paintings. However, based on many years of work, new research now suggests that the catalogue number is to be regarded as the fifth motif (out of a total of six) in the famous suite "The Tree and the River Bend" from Brolles / Bois-le-Roi
The consequence by which Hill captured the motif in the first three versions (where format and composition show striking similarities) speaks partly for the order but also for the fact that he, in the end, reached the "final" version which he intended to submit to the prestigious Salon in Paris. In the final version, the canvas is the largest in size and has a next to square shape where the bushy tree crown on the foreground's stemmed tree is depicted in its entirety.
Exactly why Hill chose to expand the suite with three more versions where the composition gradually takes the form of a panorama where the crown of the imposing tree is cut is today difficult to explain (which is so often the case in studies of chronology regarding Hill's artistic production).
Depicting the same motif in several canvases was something that Hill had already done the year before in the remarkable suite "Flodlandskap", which was carried out in Champagne in 1876. The culmination of this focus on landscape suites was reached in 1877 when Hill begun the series with the flowering fruit trees and then turned his attention to the Seine in the suite "The Tree and the River Bend".
Based on the fact that four versions of the motif are housed in prestigious museum collections and in the light of 2019's remarkable sale of the larger version of "The Tree and the River Bend", there is much to suggest that the current sale may be the last chance to acquire the remaining true masterpiece from Carl Fredrik Hill's outstanding suite of vast panoramic views of the river Seine, as seen from the heights of Brolles/Bois-le-Roi.
Estimate: 8 000 000 - 10 000 000 SEK (785 855 - 982 318 EUR)
Read the full article about this work To 'The tree and the riverbend'
Carl Fredrik Hill 'Landscape with trees and still water'
In the spring of 1875, Carl Fredrik Hill's mother expressed the hope of seeing him at home as soon as possible. In July of the same year, the planned trip finally happened. During the summer of 1875, Carl Fredrik announced his intention to return home, but he first has one important thing to do. He wanted to see the large memorial exhibition of Corot, who died the same spring. He went there a couple of times. It was not his last tribute to the champion. He would hold on to his admiration, not for the classic Corot but for the pioneer: "Corot has discovered a new world, for he has discovered a new way of seeing the old."
Hill only stayed in Lund for a short time. He soon continued to Stenfors. Here he went into the greenery and painted a series of forest interiors with birches and water mirrors. Now he returned to a beloved area for a new variation on an old theme. The trees are marked with long brushstrokes, in Corot's manner, pointing towards Hill's newfound French experience.
Estimate: 275 000 - 300 000 SEK (27 014 - 29 470 EUR)
Carl Fredrik Hill 'Birches with moon'
Signed Hill and dated -75. Pencil on paper circa 57 x 38.5 cm.
Estimate: 60 000 - 80 000 SEK (5 894 - 7 859 EUR)
To 'Birches with moon'
For information Contact Specialist
Tukholma
Andreas Rydén
Varatoimitusjohtaja, Johtava asiantuntija, taide
+46 (0)728 58 71 39
Tukholma
Lena Rydén
Johtava taideasiantuntija, moderni- ja 1800-luvun taide
+46 (0)707 78 35 71