Gustaf Fjæstad, nicknamed the “Master of Snow”, dedicated his entire life, almost

obsessionally, to painting the snowy landscapes of Sweden where he was born and lived out his life. The strength of his paintings is that they were able to find in these frozen landscapes a unique metaphysical and emotional power, without ever becoming repetitive; just like the Eskimos, who, legend has it, have hundreds of words to indicate “ice”.

Frost and winter were his original hallmark. He painted outdoors in the surrounding

landscapes and forests in search of a special light, exploring the serenity of untouched beauty and a deep sense of mysticism. In contemplating the canvas, the viewer is slowly lulled into a kind of meditative state of mind, accompanied by a fascinating sensation of bewitching magic, the feeling of a childlike fairy tale. A calming, sweet sensation far from clichés or superficiality. At first glance the image looks like a delicate and decorative tracery of lace-like snowflakes and curved, graceful lines typical of Art Nouveau. But immediately afterwards one perceives a deeper and more universal sense emerging from the silence of the snowy forest, a desire to live in harmony with nature, a search for inner peace that Fjæstad, a true loner, in all probability was only able to find in the purest and most unspoiled Nordic territory. A twilit, highly evocative atmosphere, unique and representative of the Northern European Symbolism of that period.

Fjæstad’s technique too was unusual: this painting was created using photosensitive chemicals which, combined with Fjæstad’s mastery of the pointillist technique with much impasto, allowed him to represent the whiteness with extraordinary optical effects. The artist would coat his canvas with light-sensitive chemicals and project an image of the scene onto it as a preliminary map of light, which he would then use to complete the painting by hand. The colour was laid on the canvas in thick layers, allowing the artist greater control over the play of light. Shades of red, blue and grey let the colours vibrate on the canvas, denoting a strong influence of such neo-impressionist painters as Georges Seurat.

A clear imprint of Art Nouveau is also visible in the soft, rolled and ornamental

shapes of the snow. Proof positive that the artist had abandoned the 19th -century style of depicting landscapes, anticipating the more modern forms of the future.

His works can be admired in the following museums: Nationalmuseum of Stockholm; Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio; Musée d’Orsay, Paris; Gothenburg Museum of Art, Sweden; Art Institute of Chicago; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.