Intuition

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Midvinterblot in the National Museum of Sweden
(photo by Hoger Elgaard)

During his career, Carl Larsson (1853-1919) was a beloved figure in his native Sweden - a kind of national artistic treasure. In addition to his well known watercolors and books, he also completed several monumental murals commissioned for public buildings in his home country. But being famous and well thought of is no guarantee of success, it seems. While he was working on a series of large murals to decorate the central staircase in the National Museum in Stockholm, Larsson proposed the idea for the final mural, to fit an enormous space measuring twenty feet by forty-six feet. The subject was based on the Norse mythology legend in which the Swedish King Domalde is sacrificed to save the country from famine. It was titled Midwinter Sacrifice (Midvinterblot).

Between 1911 and 1913 Larsson completed several sketch versions of the painting in both oil…