A painting by Anna Boberg, one of Sweden’s most famous artists and polar explorers, is on view now

Born into a wealthy and creative family in Stockholm in 1864, Boberg was largely self-taught. A contemporary of abstract painter Hilma af Klint (1862–1944), Boberg’s career was defined by her paintings of the arctic landscapes of the Lofoten Islands, an archipelago off the northern coast of Norway, 150 kilometres above the Arctic Circle.  She and her husband first visited the region in 1901. Enamoured by the landscape, she remained there to paint even after her husband returned home and would return numerous times over the next 30 years, summer and winter, to paint in different light conditions. “Translating the rich sensorial experience of the Arctic sea,” describes Caroline Shields, AGO Associate Curator and Head of European Art, “became Boberg’s enduring passion for the final three decades of her life.” 

Sunlight and Showers (1901-12) stands apart in Boberg’s oeuvre and dates to her earliest years in Lofoten. While much of her later work focuses on fishing vessels and human activity, Sunlight and Showers is, according to Shields, “an expressionist tour-de-force that captures the atmospheric effects of an Arctic snow shower.” 

Not just a painter, Boberg’s artistic practice included textile design, ceramics and glass as well as writing − she wrote the libretto for an opera, an autobiography and various travelogues. 

Our own Dr. Caroline Shields examines the painting, and shares more about Boberg’s oeuvre and legacy, in this week’s AGOinsider collection spotlight (read, here).