Nils Kreuger

Kreuger returned to Sweden from France in 1887 where he settled in Varberg, a coastal town situated 70 km south of Gothenburg, in the province of Halland. Between 1893–1895 he was joined there by Richard Bergh and Karl Nordström and together they formed what became known as Varbergsskolan (The School of Varberg), which greatly contributed to the creation of a pure national romantic style as a reaction to realistic landscape painting.

The present work depicts the so-called Granngårdarna (the neighboring houses) in Apelviken, a bay south of Varberg, where Kreuger and Nordström lived during the summers. The houses became nationally known through Nordström’s famous picture ”Granngårdarna” (Nationalmuseum), which depict the houses from the opposite side towards the sea.
In 1894, the year it was drawn, the group presented their works at Konstnärsförbundets 8th exhibition held in Stockholm. Kreuger showed his famous pointillistic triptyk "Spring in Halland” (Nationalmuseum), Pauli his ”Vision” (Nationalmuseum) and Nordström his groundbreaking picture "Varbergs fäste” (Sparbanken). Kreuger also participated with a group of drawings which caught the attention of the art historian Karl Wåhlin. In a review of the exhibition in ”Ord och Bild”, 5th booklet 1894, he wrote: ”Nils Kreuger, som utställer några mycket känsliga smärre landskap i den veka, förfinade stil, som är honom egen, förträffliga tuschteckningar.” (Kreuger exhibits some very sensitive landscapes in his characteristic frail but refined style, excellent ink drawings).