Johan Krouthén
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Johan Krouthén painted “Stenigt landskap i Bohuslän” (“Stony landscape in Bohuslän”) in 1833. It was exhibited in Stockholm and received great attention.
It is not a picture of a delightful summery landscape with a sun-glittering blue sea as the west coast would be painted some fifty years later by another generation of landscape painters. It is a landscape painting that is boldly challenging in another way: There is no sea in it – only rocks, and they are nearly as grey as the cloud covered sky. The thistles in the foreground, the boy wandering barefoot along the country road, the horse wagon in the background and some birds in the sky are important impressions in the moment the artist wants to capture.
Painting something as realistically as Krouthén had done was something new. It was completely contrary to the Academy of Art’s and official Sweden’s definition of art. Krouthén’s painting had neither idealism or inspiration from the classical antiquity nor was it an historical depiction. Just a naked landscape, defined in grey on grey, with exceptionally clear detail.
To the left of the rising cliffs and by noting the telegraph poles the artist has painted, we can deduce that there is a parallel space to the country road, this is where the railroad is! The telegraph poles are following it. With extreme realism and detail Krouthén has realised another landscape of Bohuslän than that to which we are accustomed.
The years around 1880 were dynamic for Krouthén. He had begun studies at the Academy of Art several years earlier, but did not really like it since he felt that he was not allowed to develop his individuality. In 1881 he left the Academy in protest and joined a group of painters of his own age who had done the same thing. Free from the Academy he travelled to the west coast and southern Sweden to paint, then further out in Europe. He painted diligently during those years, and artistically speaking, they are perhaps his most important years. In 1884 he returned to Linköping and settled there.
