Open-Air Painter. Winter-Motif from Åsögatan 145, Stockholm

Open-Air Painter. Winter-Motif from Åsögatan 145, Stockholm was made in 1886, depicting a figure painting outdoors in winter — an activity that required both commitment and technical resourcefulness. The specific address, Åsögatan 145 on Södermalm island in Stockholm, grounds the image in documented urban geography. Södermalm in the 1880s was a working-class district of the Swedish capital, and Larsson's choice to paint there rather than in a more fashionable quarter of the city reflects both his own working-class origins and his democratic instinct about what constituted a worthy subject for painting. The image is also self-referential: depicting a painter working outdoors in winter was a comment on the practice of plein-air painting itself, its demands, and its rewards. By 1886 Larsson had returned to Sweden after his years in France and was establishing himself in Stockholm while also developing his connection to Sundborn.

Canvas with handling suited to the grey, diffuse light of Stockholm winter — a palette of cool whites, greys, and muted blues punctuated by the warmer tones of the painter's figure and equipment. The composition addresses the particular challenge of depicting snow without reducing it to simple white.