''The Town'' is a 1903 oil painting by

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

. It is shown at the

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manag ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Strindberg as a painter

August Strindberg had no training in art. He painted only in periods, mainly landscapes and seascapes with dramatic waves and skies. He painted choppy sea in the storm with seething waves, clouds of rebellion and burnings that whips against the rocky shores. His painting method remained personally improvised. He painted mostly in periods of crisis, when he had difficulty writing. He did not have a breakthrough as a painter until long after his death.Vad hade de på paletten?: Bruno Liljefors (1860-1939), Georg von Rosen (1843-1923), prins Eugen (1865-1947) och August Strindberg (1849-1912).
/ref> He has come to be regarded as a pioneer of expressionism as an art form in Sweden. In the 1870s he spent time with several young artists such as

Carl Larsson Carl Olof Larsson (; 28 May 1853 – 22 January 1919) was a Swedish painter representative of the Arts and Crafts movement. His many paintings include oils, watercolors, and frescoes. He is principally known for his watercolors of idyllic fam ...

and others in

Grez-sur-Loing Grez-sur-Loing (, literally ''Grez on Loing''; formerly Grès-en-Gâtinais, literally ''Grès in Gâtinais'') is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in north-central France. Sights * The Church of Notre-Dame et Saint-Laurent ''(Church o ...

then himself began attempts in painting. He also worked as an art critic.

Painting

''The Town'' is an oil painting made with a

palette knife A palette knife is a blunt tool used for mixing or applying paint, with a flexible steel blade. It is primarily used for applying paint to the canvas, mixing paint colors, adding texture to the painted surface, paste, etc., or for marbling, decora ...

, with thick layers of paint laid on the canvas. It is a landscape painting, with a town in the distance, its tallest building reflected in the water's surface. The painting is dominated by the dark colors of the high sky and clouds, with a

color scheme In color theory, a color scheme is the choice of colors used in various artistic and design contexts. For example, the "Achromatic" use of a white background with black text is an example of a basic and commonly default color scheme in web de ...

in white, black and gray, with the brightly lit town's trees depicted in green.

References

__NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Town, The 1903 paintings Swedish paintings Works by August Strindberg Expressionist paintings Paintings in the Nationalmuseum Stockholm Water in art

Strindberg as a painter

Painting

See also

References