Wild ducks

This 1887 canvas of wild ducks is an early major statement of Liljefors's mature wildlife aesthetic. By 1887 he had returned to Sweden after study in Germany and a formative period in France, where he was briefly associated with the Scandinavian artists' colony at Grez-sur-Loing. His French sojourn exposed him to Impressionist colour principles and plein-air practice, and these influenced his approach to depicting birds and their environments without making him simply an Impressionist. Wild ducks — mallards and related species — were among the birds Liljefors knew best from his hunting and shooting activities, which he maintained throughout his life not as recreation separate from painting but as fieldwork integral to it. The ability to observe living birds at close range and to understand their behaviour, anatomy, and movement at speed depended on the kind of intimate access that hunting provided. His duck paintings balance precise ornithological observation with a painterly intelligence that organises colour and form into unified, atmospheric compositions.

The ducks are depicted with close attention to species-specific plumage markings, while the water and reed environment is handled with freer, more impressionistic strokes. Liljefors captures the quality of low-lying reed-bed light — diffused, horizontal, reflecting off water — that characterises the habitats these birds favour.