1849 -1911 · Nordic landscape, Barbizon and visionary drawing

Carl Fredrik Hill moves from the landscape observed in France to an immense drawn, visionary and interior universe, where trees, architecture, animals and figures metamorphose.

Carl Fredrik Hill was born in Lund in 1849 into a university family. He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, but quickly rejected the conventions of the academic landscape. In 1873, he moved to France and worked around Paris, Normandy and the Fontainebleau forest. Barbizon's legacy, notably Corot, Daubigny and Courbet, encouraged him to paint the countryside directly. Rivers, orchards, quarries and trees became dense constructions where depth was often compressed by large plans of vegetation. Hill stubbornly sought recognition from the Salon, which repeatedly refused his paintings. His strongest landscapes rest however, not on the anecdote: sky, water and dark masses create an almost mental tension there. In 1878, a serious psychological crisis interrupted his public career. After stays in institutions, he returned to live with his family in Lund in 1883. A second work of exceptional scale began. For nearly three decades, Hill produced thousands of pencil, ink, chalk and pastel drawings. For nearly three decades, Hill produced thousands of drawings in pencil, ink, chalk and pastel. For nearly three decades, Hill produced thousands of drawings in pencil, ink, chalk and pastel. For nearly three decades, Hill produced thousands of drawings in pencil, ink, chalk and pastel. Memories of French landscapes, palaces, animals, faces, fantastic trees and inscriptions combined according to private logic. Long separated from youthful painting, these drawings are today considered an essential chapter of Nordic art modern. A faithful reproduction must distinguish the compact material of the landscapes, the restrained light of the North and the graphic energy of the late leaves, without reducing these to a simple medical document. The "Carl Fredrik Hill" selection offers its own journey on this subject. Reading it favors movement.

At Hill, the landscape begins before the eyes then continues in memory, until it becomes an entirely interior architecture.