On the Rock

On the Rock from 1904, also in the Thiel Gallery, likely depicts a figure posed on or near the rock formations of the Dalarna lakeside — a setting Zorn returned to repeatedly in his figure-in-landscape work. The rocks of Lake Siljan and its environs were a recurring backdrop for his outdoor nudes and figure studies, providing a natural platform that elevated the figure above water level and created strong contrasts of texture between human skin and rough stone. Zorn had built his studio home at Mora on Lake Siljan, and the surrounding landscape was as familiar to him as any studio interior.

The rock provides a strong textural and chromatic contrast to the figure — rough, grey, and massive against the soft, warm tones of skin in light. Zorn exploits this contrast to define the figure's forms through difference as much as through modelling, the light that illuminates the figure simultaneously picking out the rock's irregular surface.