Strindberg was a major 19th century Swedish author known primarily for his play Miss Julie who was also active as a painter. Using a palette knife to create bold, thickly applied strokes, his experimental paintings characterized by abstraction, and their extemporaneous inclusion of unexpected effects. These works are considered to be precursors to the various avant-garde art movements of the 20th century, and their remarkable re-evaluation continues today. This work Inferno (1901) based on Dante’s Inferno and dubbed “my Inferno painting” by the artist himself is considered one of Strindberg’s most important paintings.
Joaquín Sorolla, on the other hand, was a nationally renowned Spanish painter, active from the end of the 19th century through the beginning of the 20th century. Internationally he was known for his depictions of the lands and people of Spain in the brilliant light of the Mediterranean. Working primarily en plein air, he created his own unique paintings that were dubbed Luminism for their evoking the sensations woven from the play of sunlight. Sorolla contributed to the modernization of Spanish art. The Drinking Jug is considered to be one of his major works and is the first of his paintings to enter the NMWA collection. The painting will be displayed this year, with 2023 marking the 100th anniversary of his death.
The NMWA’s acquisition of works by the Swedish author Strindberg and the Spanish painter Sorolla helps diversify the geographic range of the NMWA’s latter half of the 19th century to early 20th century collection which is largely French art. We hope that these new works will provide visitors with an all the more diverse viewing experience.
Strindberg’s Inferno and Sorolla’s The Drinking Jug are now on display in the NMWA Permanent Collection Galleries.
■August Strindberg’s Inferno
August Strindberg
Inferno
1901
oil on canvas
100 x 70 cm
Signed and dated (lower right): Aug S-g 1903
P.2022-0001
About the Painting:
This novel composition features what appears to be a windswept maelstrom beyond a grotto-like opening, surrounded by dense green foliage. Strindberg created this ragged, wild composition when his third marriage to the young actress Harriet was suddenly plunged into a serious crisis. This inferno-like dark grotto can be seen as reflecting Strindberg’s own sense of despair. The artist himself saw the work as a type of psychological self-portrait, and it hung on the wall of his own home for many years. Later the work was long on deposit at Sweden’s Nationalmuseum and at Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
About the Painter:
August Strindberg (Stockholm, 1849-1912)
Strindberg was a major Swedish playwright and novelist. He wrote more than 60 plays over the course of his life, as well as novels, poems, art critiques, and books on history, science and alchemy. Along with his writing, Strindberg was also known for his distinctive paintings and photographs. Strindberg did not have formal art training, but rather diverted various periods in his life to the production of painting (1892-94, 1901-02, 1903, 1905). These times overlapped periods when he found it hard to write, such as those which saw the breakdown of his marriages or political strife. This timing led to the sense that his paintings were autobiographical, expressionist works.
Provenance
Artist and Director General of Nationalmuseum, Richard Bergh, Stockholm (circa 1909); Gummesons Konsthandel (Gummeson Art Gallery), Stockholm (circa 1924); Eva Mörner-Dahlstedt, Österåsen (acquired from the above); Helge Dahlstedt, Stockholm (inherited from the above); Fyr Helge Dahlstedt, Lidingö (inherited from the above); private collection, Stockholm (acquired from the above); private collection (acquired at Christie’s, London, Scandinavian Pictures, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture, 16 March 1989, cat. no. 382); J.E. Safra Collection (acquired at Sotheby’s, London, 19th Century European Paintings, Drawings and Watercolours, 17 June 1992, cat. no. 323); previous owner (acquired at Bukowskis Stockholm: Wednesday, 7 June 2017, Lot 00403); purchased by NMWA, 15 November 2022.
Exhibition History
- 1909 Strindbergsutställningen till firandet av Strindbergs 60-årsda (Strindberg Exhibition in celebration of Strindberg's 60th birthday), Intima Teatern, Stockholm, 0 1909 - 0 0
- 1911 Strindbergs-utställning (Strindberg Exhibition), Hallins Konsthandel, Stockholm, 0 1911 - 0 0, cat. no. 12
- 1924 Målningar af August Strindberg (Paintings by August Strindberg), Gummesons Konsthall, Stockholm, 0 1924 - 0 0, cat. no. 31
- 1949 Strindberg som målare och modell (Strindberg as painter and model), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Örebro Centralbibliotek samt Lunds Universitets Konstmuseum (Örebro Central Library and Lund University Art Museum), 0 1949 - 0 0, cat. no. 47
- 1960 Les Sources du XXe Siècle – Les Arts en Europe de 1884 à 1914, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, 0 1960 - 0 0, cat. no. 693
- 1962 August Strindberg, Universitätsmuseum Marburg, 0 1962 - 0 0, cat. no. 21
- 1962 August Strindberg, British Museum, London, 0 1962 - 0 0, cat. no. 21
- 1962 August Strindberg. Malerier, Louisiana, Humlebæk, 0 1962 - 0 0, cat. no. 2
- 1962 August Strindberg. Schilderijen, Provinciaal Hof, Bruges, 0 1962 - 0 0, cat. no. 19
- 1962 August Strindberg. Peinture, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, 0 1962 - 0 0, cat. no. 21
- 1962 August Strindberg. Malereien, Kunstverein Ulm, 24 March 1962 - 25 April 1962, cat. no. 19
- 1963 Målningar av August Strindberg, Göteborgs Konstmuseum, 0 1963 - 0 0, cat. no. 21
- 1963 August Strindberg: målningar, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 0 1963 - 0 0, cat. no. 26
- 1963 August Strindberg. Malerier, Oslo Kunstforening, 0 1963 - 0 0, cat. no. 22
- 1970 Moderna Museet på Konstakademien, Konstakademien, Stockholm, 0 1970 - 0 0
- 1974 Diktaren som bildkonstnär. Goethe-Hugo-Strindberg, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 0 1974 - 0 0, cat. no. 192
- 1976 Strindberg –maler. En utstilling i Munchmuseet (An exhibition in Munchmuseet), Munchmuseet, Oslo, 0 1976 - 0 1977
- 1980 Strindberg, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, 0 1980 - 0 0, cat. no. 15
- 1981 Der andere Strindberg, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Lenbachhaus, Munich and Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Berlin, 0 1981 - 0 0, cat. no. 29
- 1981 Strindberg, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 0 1981 - 0 0
- 1986 Im Lichte des Nordens. Skandinavische Malerei um die Jahrhundertwende, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, 0 1986 - 0 1987, cat. no. 94
- 1986 Dreams of a Summer Night. Scandinavian Paintings at the turn of the Century, The Hayward Gallery, London, 10 July 1986 - 5 October 1986, cat. no. 94
- 1987 Die Gibelungen. Bilder von Liebe, Verrat und Untergang, Haus der Kunst, Munich, 0 1987 - 0 1988, cat. no. 373
- 1987 Nordiske stemninger. Nordiskt maleri fra århundreskiftet, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, 0 1987 - 0 0, cat. no. 116
- 1987 Lumières du Nord. La peinture scandinave 1885-1905, Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, 21 February 1987 - 17 May 1987, cat. no. 119
- 1989 August Strindberg. Underlandet, Malmö Konsthall, 26 December 1989 - 4 February 1990
- 1992 August Strindberg-Carl Kylberg-Max Book, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm, 0 1992 - 0 0, cat. no. 68
- 2001 August Strindberg – målare och fotograf, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm , 9 February 2001 - 13 May 2001, cat. no. 54
- 2001 Strindberg. Maleren og fotografen, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, 9 June 2001 - 16 September 2001, cat. no. 54
- 2001 Strindberg. Peintre et photographe, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, 15 October 2001 - 27 January 2002, cat. no. 29
- 2005 August Strindberg. Painter, photographer, writer, Tate Modern, London, 17 February 2005 - 15 May 2005, cat. no. 65
- 2016 August Strindberg. De la Mer au Cosmos, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts Lausanne, 14 October 2016 - 22 January 2017
https://collection.nmwa.go.jp/P.2022-0001.html
■Joaquín Sorolla’s The Drinking Jug
Joaquín Sorolla
The Drinking Jug
1904
oil on canvas
151 x 98 cm
Signed and dated (lower left): J. Sorolla y Bastida / 1904
P.2022-0002
About the Painting:
Sorolla created this work on the beach of his hometown Valencia, in the late summer of 1904, his mature period. A small simple hut by the shore is the setting for a young woman giving a child a drink of water from a jug. The half-open door in the background lets in a single ray of bright sunlight. The painting reflects Sorolla’s affection for children, and his magical command of colors that capture the effects of light. This work was featured on a postal stamp issued by Spain in 1964 to commemorate the centenary of his birth.
About the Painter:
Joaquín Sorolla (Valencia 1863 – Cercedilla 1923)
Born in Valencia, Sorolla was a proudly Spanish painter, greatly renowned both in Spain and overseas for his depictions of the scenery and people of his homeland bathed in bright Mediterranean light. Sorolla was first recognized for his social realist paintings in the national art exhibitions held in Madrid, and also made a name for himself in international public exhibitions. He later received numerous commissions for portraits, and around 1900 he developed his own distinctive style, using swift brushstrokes to convey sunlight’s myriad sensations. Sorolla worked en plein air, depicting the seaside customs and scenery around him. Today his home and studio in Madrid are open to the public as the Sorolla Museum.
Provenance
Acquired by D. Calixto Rodríguez (1848-1917) in 1905 for 10,000 pesetas; thence passed on to his widow María Lorente in Madrid (died in 1963); thence inherited by Victoriano Lorente, who married Helena Sorolla in 1922, and their descendants; purchased by NMWA through Colnaghi, 15 November 2022.
Exhibition History
- 1906 Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, Galerie Georges Petit, 0 1906 - 0 0, p. 22, cat. 442, as "La Cruche”
- 1910 Exposición española de Artese Industrias decorativas, Mexico City, 0 1910 - 0 0
- 1963 Joaquín Sorolla. Primer centenario de su nacimiento (1863-1963), Dirección General de Bellas Artes, Casón del Buen Retiro, Madrid, 0 1963 - 0 0, cat. no. 45
- 2020 Joaquín Sorolla. Lumières espagnoles, Hotel de Caumont Centre d’Art, Aix-en-Provence, 0 2020 - 0 0, not included in catalogue
https://collection.nmwa.go.jp/P.2022-0002.html
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The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
Address 7-7 Ueno Koen, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0007, Japan
Gallery opening hours: 9:30-17:30
Friday and Saturday 9:30-20:00
*Admission ends 30 mins. before closing time
Closed Mondays and 28 December - 1 January
(Except when a national holiday falls on Monday. In this case, the museum is open on the holiday and is closed the next day)
In addition to the above, the museum may be specially opened or closed.
URL https://www.nmwa.go.jp/