ANDERS ZORN (SVERIGE, 1860-1920). "Mona", etching, 1911, signed Zorn in pencil.

Plate size 24.6 x 17 cm (Van Gelder Zonen).
Including frame 46x37 cm.
PROVENANCE: Zorn Gallery, Certificate of origin" No 242.

HISTORY Anders Zorn was born in Mora in 1860. Already at a young age it was understood that he had an artistic aptitude, in 1875 he traveled from there to Stockholm and began as a student at the then School of Crafts (now the Technical University) in Stockholm and soon after he started at the Art Academy. From the beginning he intended to become a sculptor, but before long watercolor painting took over, the medium that would be his until 1887. At the student exhibition in 1880, Zorn had his breakthrough with the watercolor "In sadness". The following year, Zorn also gained international reputation as a portrait painter. His watercolor painting soon reaches its absolute peak, his most famous work from the period is Our Daily Bread from 1886. Shortly afterwards, Zorn switched to oil painting, which was achieved with immediate success. Mainly his reputation rested on his portraiture and he came to portray many greats, even presidents, for example Theodore Roosevelt was portrayed in an etching. It was his etchings that greatly contributed to his success. In the late 1880s, Zorn began working in the genre that would increasingly become his signature, outdoor nudity. The movements of water and the reflections of light on the surface of the water had long interested him, and now the motif was complicated by placing a model next to or in the water, with the aim of depicting a synthesis between nature and man. In 1896, the Zorn couple moved home to Sweden and Zorngården in Mora, which led to an increased interest in the home area, which was reflected in his future paintings. Of the artist's scenes from the Mora region, its common people and ancient traditions, the "Midsummer Dance", today at the National Museum, was the painting that Zorn himself valued most.