Who was Sweden's finest painter of the 19th century?

The finest painter of the 19th century in Swedish painting was Andres Zorn (1860-1920). Not only did he mark the highest achievement of Swedish pictorial art in the 19th century with his artworks, but he was also the first Swedish painter of all-European significance.

Born into a poor working family, Zorn loved painting from an early age and entered the Stockholm Academy of Fine Arts at the age of 15. He was studious and extremely sensitive to new artistic ideas and forms, and was forced to drop out of school along with several other young students due to the influence of new ideas.

Zorn was a multi-talented artist with a deep knowledge of oil paintings, landscapes, watercolors, drawings and prints. He painted a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, myths and customs, and was especially famous for his portraits.

He has been engaged in portrait painting since 1885, and he is good at grasping the momentary change of feelings of the characters under his brush, and can express them in a rapid way. His representative works of portrait painting include "Mrs. Gardner", "Rodin", "Anders Grandfather", "Mother" and so on. His portraits are not only delicate in emotional character, but also show his high attainments in artistic methods, especially in color language. He had been influenced by the light and color characteristics of the Impressionists in France, but he adopted a more intense simplicity of expression. He does not like to use too much color, but because of the proper contrast appears thick and loud, even feel the light trembling.

Zorn was not only an accomplished portraitist, but also quite distinguished in his genre paintings. He produced such genre paintings as Dance at Dusk, Shepherdess, Boat Race, and Midnight. Although his genre paintings did not express the major events of the society and reveal the deep class conflicts, his passionate works have a strong life atmosphere.

Additionally, Zorn also achieved a high level of artistic success in his copperplate paintings. His copperplate prints can skillfully utilize the arrangement of lines and the contrast of black and white to express the image of life, and still maintain the agile approach like oil painting. His masterpieces include "Ernest Renan" and so on.