Snowy Mountains. Study from Lofoten

Anna Boberg prints bring the dramatic mountains, cold seas and shifting Arctic light of Lofoten in northern Norway into your home. Boberg was a Swedish painter and designer who, after a single trip north in 1901, spent more than thirty years painting the islands, often alone and in winter. Our collection of fine art prints covers her Lofoten studies, fishing fleets and harbours, northern lights, and views from Switzerland, Italy and Jerusalem.

About Anna Boberg

Anna Katarina Scholander was born in Stockholm on 3 December 1864, the sixth of seven children of the architect Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander. She grew up in an artistic family but had no formal art training beyond a brief spell at the Académie Julian in Paris, and is considered self-taught. In Paris she met the young architect Ferdinand Boberg, and they married in 1888.

She began painting seriously in 1887, mostly in watercolour, and held her first exhibition in 1888. In the 1890s she painted large decorative pieces in oil on rough cloth for hotels in Stockholm and Saltsjöbaden, designed the Peacock Vase for Rörstrand and glass for Reijmyre, wrote and designed the opera Tirfing, and created textiles for the Swedish pavilion that her husband designed for the 1900 Paris World Fair.

A trip to northern Sweden and Norway in 1901 changed her course. Struck by the scenery of Lofoten, she painted its landscapes and people, often in winter, for the next 33 years, staying in a small house her husband designed for her near Svolvær. Her Lofoten paintings had a mixed reception in Stockholm in 1903, but a 1905 exhibition in Paris was a great success and launched a long career in France.

After 1915 she travelled across Sweden with Ferdinand on his project to document old buildings, keeping diaries of the journeys. The couple lived in Paris for some years from 1925 before returning to Stockholm in 1929. She died there on 27 January 1935, and members of the Swedish royal family attended her funeral.

Style and Subjects

Boberg's Lofoten pictures are mostly oil studies painted quickly and on the spot, catching the light as it changed over mountains, fjords and harbours. She painted fishing fleets heading out, boats crowded in Svolvær harbour, storms, fog, midnight sun and northern lights.

Her colour can be surprisingly bold: violet mountains, glowing pink skies and deep blue seas, set against white snow. The broad, loose handling gives even small studies a strong sense of weather and space.

Famous Works

• Vaagakallen. Study from Lofoten (1901), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. The great peak of Vågakallen, painted in the year she first saw Lofoten.
• At the Foot of the Mountain. Study from Lofoten (1905), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. A small settlement dwarfed by the mountains.
• From Svolvær Harbour. Study from Lofoten (1910), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Boats and buildings in the harbour where she kept her house.
• The Graveyard in the Mountains. Study from Lofoten (1920), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. A quiet, solemn landscape from her middle years in the north.
• The Sun over Lofoten. Study (1920), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Low sunlight breaking over the islands.
• Study during a Storm. From Lofoten (1930), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Wind and sea caught in quick, energetic strokes.
• Lofoten in Violet. Study (1934), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. One of her last pictures, with the mountains in deep violet.
• Svolvær Harbour at the Height of the Fishing Season (1934), Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. The harbour packed with boats during the winter cod fishing.

Decorating with Boberg Prints

Boberg's Arctic scenes suit calm, pared-back rooms. Snowy mountain pictures like Snowy Mountains look striking in a Scandinavian-style living room or bedroom with white walls and pale wood, and they make a natural choice for a cabin or ski lodge.

The harbour and fishing-fleet scenes work well in a coastal home, kitchen or hallway. Her small studies are ideal for a gallery wall: a row of Lofoten views in different lights and seasons makes a quiet, atmospheric display.

FAQ

Who was Anna Boberg?

Anna Boberg was a Swedish painter, designer and writer, married to the architect Ferdinand Boberg. She is best known for her paintings of the Lofoten islands in northern Norway.

Why did Anna Boberg paint Lofoten?

She was captivated by the scenery on a trip with her husband in 1901 and returned again and again for 33 years, staying in a house near Svolvær that he designed for her.

What else did Anna Boberg design?

She designed the Peacock Vase for Rörstrand, glass for Reijmyre, textiles for the 1900 Paris World Fair and the sets for the opera Tirfing, which she also wrote.

Where can I see Anna Boberg's paintings?

The Nationalmuseum in Stockholm holds a large group of her Lofoten studies, along with views from Switzerland and Italy.

Related Artists

• Ferdinand Boberg: her husband, the architect whose travels and buildings she shared
• Peder Balke: earlier painter of the dramatic northern Norwegian coast
• Anders Zorn: leading Swedish painter of her generation
• Carl Larsson: Swedish painter and designer of the same generation