Spring is in the air - the birds are chirping; apple, cherry and magnolia trees are a kaleidoscope of colour; and daisies have occupied the expanse of park lawns. There is a wonderful simplicity in this joy, one that the Swedish painter, graphic artist and cartoonist Bror Lindh (1877 – 1941) captured so well.

Lindh came from a long family of artists, having received his first lessons from his father. He graduated from the Swedish Artists’ Association painting school in Stockholm, his school years marked more by enjoyment of life than studying.

Yet, something happened in Stockholm - perhaps an unrequited love for a fashion critic - that drove him toward asceticism and he and a journalist friend with similar desires moved to Värmland, swearing a vow of chastity and poverty and reportedly subsisting on mushrooms and porridge for about four years.

During this time Lindh maintained contact with the nearby Racken colony or artists and craftsmen, of which his former tutor, the artist and designer Gustaf Fjæstad, was a part. The colony shared a common desire to create new artistic styles influenced by Swedish, European, and Japanese art, especially by the aesthetic of the Japanese woodblock prints which were then shown at art fairs.

Bror Lindh, *Vitsippsbacke*, oil on canvas

After leaving the isolation of Värmland, Lindh continued taking lessons from Fjæstad, developing his signature style. In the 1920s, for reasons unknown, he again withdrew from society and lived the remainder of his life as a hermit at an old farmhouse in Grönäs.

Bror Lindh, *Summer Landscape with Birch*, oil on canvas

Bror Lindh’s works can be seen at the Moderna Museet, the Göteborgs Konstmuseum, and the Värmlands Museum.

Spring Aesthetics