A r t i s t i c E x c e l l e n c e S c h o l a r s h i p C o n s e r v a t i o n I n t e g r i t y
A R T C O L L E C T I O N
About
Every Moment is a Memory
Early photo of the artist Edvard Bergh
Portrait of the artist Edvard Bergh
Portrait of the artist Edvard Bergh, c.1865
Academy photo of the artist Edvard Bergh, 1875
Edvard Bergh paved the way for the more recent conception of landscape painting, which does not seek its excuse in the heroic, "grand" style, or the brilliantly effective, though he had paid tribute to it when under the influence of Calame, after first having studied at Dusseldorf. It was not until he finally settled in Sweden that his true feeling found expression in the loving and poetic rendering of quiet bits of nature.
“Painting of the Nineteenth Century in Germany, Holland, Scandinavia and Russia”, Robert Koehler, Dir. The Minneapolis School of Fine Arts, (c) 1907, by W. E. ERNST, p. 629
​​
Two young boys dressed in school uniforms relax near a lake's edge with dramatic trees and foliage in the foreground, and misty reflected mountain in the background. When this work was completed in 1856, the artist Edvard Bergh had been in Geneva under the tutelage of the painter Alexandre Calame. This was part of a long study scholarship grant he was awarded in 1854 that also included stops in Düsseldorf and Italy. It is likely this work depicts a calm summer day at Lake Geneva. ​
​​
Johan Edvard Bergh was born in 1828 in Stockholm, the son of Severin Bergh and Emma Forsström. He attended Maria Læromsskola, then in 1844 went to Uppsala University. He initially studied the natural sciences, but switched to legal studies and graduated with a master's degree in 1849. At first, he worked as a notary at Svea Court of Appeal and Stockholm City Hall.
His first attempt at art was to enroll at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, which he was rejected. He began exhibiting at the Swedish Art Association where Royal Academy Official Count Mikael Gustaf Anckarsvärd was impressed with Bergh's work and assured him that a new application would be accepted. In 1853 he was awarded the royal medal for his Landscape motifs from the Göta River.
By 1854, he had qualified for a scholarship that enabled him to take a three-year study trip. He visited Switzerland, Italy and Germany where he studied at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf under Norwegian romanticist painter Hans Fredrik Gude. He also had lessons from German landscape and seascape painter Andreas Achenbach and the Swiss landscape painter Alexandre Calame.
In 1857 he established a landscape painting school at the Royal Academy and became a professor there in 1861. He was the commissioner of the Swedish art department at both the 1862 World Exhibition in London, and the 1872 Scandinavian Exhibition in Copenhagen.
In the late 1860s, he moved away from the more traditional landscape subjects and began focusing on scenes from central Sweden. In 1867 He was awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris.
The artist is represented in these public institutions:
-
National Museum in Stockholm
-
Gothenburg Museum
-
Copenhagen City Art Museum
-
The National Gallery of Denmark (SMK)
-
National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo
-
Swedish The Academy of Fine Arts
-
Bavarian State Painting Collections
-
Upplands Museum
-
Hallwyl Museum
-
Östergötland Museum
Johan Edvard Bergh (1828−1880)
Title:
"Mountain Landscape with Children at the Lake", 1856
​
Artist:
Edvard Bergh (1828–1880)
​
Type:
Oil on canvas
​
Size:
125 x 100 cm
​
Signed:
Lower right
​
RHA I.D.#:
RHA-03/2012-071
​
Provenance:
Bukowskis Auctioneer Malmö, March 2012 Art Auction, Lot 295238
​