Hins Anders

Anders Zorn's 'Hins Anders' (1904) depicts a figure from the Swedish folk culture of Dalarna — the peasant culture of this central Swedish province was a recurring subject for Zorn throughout his career, and 'Hins Anders' ('Hins' being a Dalarna dialect form meaning 'the other' or 'over there's Anders') places this figure within the specific cultural world of the Dalarna village community. Zorn's engagement with Dalarna subjects was both personal (he had a home there at Mora) and artistic (the region's folk culture providing him with subjects of distinctive character and pictorial interest).

Zorn renders the Dalarna figure with his characteristic loose, confident brushwork and warm palette — the figure's specific face and character observed with the directness and warmth that distinguished his best portraits of working-class and folk subjects. His handling of the light on the figure and the atmospheric context demonstrates his sustained plein air observational practice. The folk figure's specific visual character — the traditional dress elements, the bearing, and the individual face — is captured with Zorn's characteristic combination of speed and precision.