This childhood idyll could, however, at times be shattered by tragic events along the muddy banks of the Arbogaån. It happened that children bathing there would slip in the mud, drift into deep water and drown. The artist’s elder brother Fredrik once recounted that almost every year they witnessed how a beautiful summer’s day could suddenly turn into a sorrowful tragedy. From an early age, they were thus confronted with death and its reality. These experiences left a deep impression on the young Dardel and awakened both fear and fascination in the face of death.

Dardel himself also experienced a near-death episode when, in his late teens, he was struck by a severe case of scarlet fever. The illness resulted in a heart condition that he carried for the rest of his life.

Another deeply affecting childhood memory was when the coachman’s young daughter fell into the water and drowned. The memory of the girl in the Arbogaån remained with the artist well into adulthood. In the spring of 1919, he depicted the घटना in two gouache paintings, of which the work now at auction is the first version.

In the motif, two men are seen lifting the lifeless body of the girl from the water, while two groups of mourners approach the riverbank. They lean slightly forward and seem almost to glide, as though they were supernatural figures. The women, dressed in radiant white, and the men in deep black appear almost as silhouettes against a cool emerald-green background. In the foreground, the artist has depicted himself as an ethereal figure, set apart from the event and gazing out towards the viewer.

Through the flat, clean linearity of the composition, Dardel conveys an emotional undertone of vulnerability and unease in the face of life’s tragedy—an elegantly veiled image of cruelty and compassion.

”Den drunknade flickan I" originally formed part of the collection of the art lover Jean O. Erikson, whose home was on Erik Dahlbergsgatan in Gothenburg. Erikson was Norwegian Consul General and married to the colourful Norwegian artist Signe Hvistendahl. Together they belonged to Gothenburg’s affluent bourgeoisie, moving in the same circles as the Mannheimer and Pineus families. These families supported several young modernist artists, including Gösta Sandels, Birger Simonsson and Nils Dardel.

In addition to the present painting, the Erikson–Hvistendahl family also owned the first version of Dardel’s work "Den döende dandyn"—a gouache depicting only mourning men. It is believed to have been sold in connection with the consul’s death in 1950.

In the lower right corner of ”Den drunknade flickan I" there is a dedication: “with heartfelt and sincere gratitude”. Unfortunately, the reason for this gratitude is unknown today. What had Signe Hvistendahl done to deserve this acknowledgement?