The lumber moves

The Lumber Moves, painted in 1916, depicts the traditional Dalarnan practice of floating felled timber down rivers to the sawmills — a practice that defined the economic and visual character of the Siljan region for centuries. The spring log drive was one of the most dramatic events in Dalarnan life: the rivers ran high with snowmelt, thousands of logs jostled and collided in the current, and specialised workers with pike poles directed the timber. Zorn had long been attentive to the working life of the Mora region alongside its festivals and domestic interiors, and the timber drive offered him a subject of kinetic energy and economic vitality that complemented his more intimate figure work. The 1916 date places this among his late outdoor subjects, when he was painting the Dalarnan landscape and its workers with the knowledge that his time was limited and the world he knew was changing.

Oil on canvas with energetic, direction-specific brushwork that evokes the movement of water and timber simultaneously. The colour is dominated by cool river blues and greens, punctuated by the warm umbers of pine bark and the bright accents of the workers' clothing. The composition must manage the difficult task of depicting both moving water and moving wood convincingly.