Bruno Liljefors, wild Sweden: the poetic exhibition unveiled in pictures at the Petit Palais

New Scandinavian artist honored at the Petit Palais in Paris! From October 1, 2024 to February 16, 2025, take a voyage of discovery through wild Sweden and its animals, with a brand-new exhibition devoted to Bruno Liljefors, featuring paintings, drawings and photographs.

Want to discover the beautiful Scandinavian countryside without leaving the capital? Head to the Petit Palais from October 1, 2024 to February 16, 2025 to admire the works of Swedish painter Bruno Liljefors.

With a new exhibition entitled " Bruno Liljefors, la Suède sauvage " , the Petit Palais is once again putting Nordic art in the spotlight, following exhibitions devoted to Carl Larsson in 2014 and Anders Zorn in 2017. This autumn and next winter, the spotlight is on Bruno Liljefors (1860-1939).

Although his work remains relatively unknown in France, Bruno Liljefors was a key figure on the Scandinavian art scene at the end of the 19th century. In his day, he was considered the " prince of animal artists ".

It has to be said that the artist produced a great many works featuring animals, thus contributing to the renewal of the animal painting genre. Swedish nature also played a key role. Wild geese in flight, eagle owls in the heart of the forest, hares on snow-covered ground, goshawks and black grouse, redstarts and butterflies, cats and chaffinches... Bruno Liljefors ' pictorial talent and his highly distinctive working technique are evident in his many examples. The Swedish artist was particularly interested in the relationship between animals and their habitat, in the heart of the Swedish wilderness.

In all, some 100 paintings, drawings and photographs will be on show at the Petit Palais, in a chronological and thematic tour. The works on display will be drawn from the collections of Swedish museums such as Stockholm's Nationalmuseum, the Thiel Gallery and the Gothenburg Museum, as well as from various private collections.

For this first major exhibition in France devoted to Bruno Liljefors, the Petit Palais offers an intimate scenography, transforming the Parisian museum into a walk in nature, far from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Bruno Liljefors' works are striking in their strength. The colors, the painting techniques and the details make these images more real than life. From a distance, you can admire the entire canvas, the choice of subjects, the impressions conveyed by the painter. As you get closer, you discover the brushstrokes that give life to each blade of grass, each bird feather. But beware: the Swedish artist is a naturalist. He paints both the delicate bird and the predatory fox in the middle of a meal. Life and death rub shoulders, delicacy and violence come together in the same painting, just as they do in nature.

The Petit Palais closes its exhibition with a spectacular room featuring monumental, striking works. Several large-format paintings are presented, offering a fascinating insight into the artist's animal work. The colors, the scenes, the animals all leave their mark. The entire exhibition plunges us into a calm, poetic universe, where each work is an ode to wild nature and the living.