Description:

verso: Studies of trees 
signed with monogram and dated: IA 02; inscribed on the backboard: Svarttjärn, Torsby Fryksände målat av Ivar Arosenius
pencil and bodycolour on paper 
233 x 203 mm

Note:

The motif is taken from lake Svarttjärn in Fryksände parish north of Torsby, a small town in the province of Värmland in Sweden.

In the summer of 1902, Arosenius travelled with his friend and future brother-in-law, the architect and furniture designer Ernst Spolén, from Gothenburg to his parents' home in Torsby. Spolén was to marry Ivar's sister Ingegerd in 1906.

The white waterlily could have several different meanings in the symbolic language that emerged within the Symbolist tradition of the 1890s. The most common meaning, and the one that best contributes to the understanding of this work, is the water lily as a symbol of a sexuality linked to the female attraction. The inclusion of the water lilies in the image thus means that the longing for love that is depicted should not be seen as purely spiritual but also with an erotic undertone.