The Red Boathouse, ca 1940s. Vintage Swedish Oil Painting by Alf Wesström

Large and atmospheric oil painting by Swedish artist Alf Wesström (1915–1982), depicting a rustic coastal or archipelago setting with a red-painted boathouse, beached boats and surrounding woodland. The painting is executed with a lively, expressive brushwork and a rich, earthy palette, with particular attention to the changing light across the landscape.

Wesström was a painter, draughtsman and musician. He studied at Valand Art School in Gothenburg in 1943, at Otte Sköld/Grunewald’s painting school in Stockholm, and later at the Académie Colarossi in Paris. He travelled extensively in Europe and North Africa and worked in a predominantly realistic style, painting landscapes, townscapes, interiors, still lifes and portraits.  

The present work is a particularly appealing example of his 1940s landscape painting, combining a recognisably Scandinavian subject with a more painterly and expressive treatment of colour and light. Wesström exhibited at, among others, Liljevalchs konsthall in Stockholm in 1945, and held several solo exhibitions during the 1940s and 1950s.  

Great vintage condition.

Framed size: 71 x 62.5cm / 28 x 24.6in

Technique: Oil on canvas

Artist: Alf Wesström (1915–1982), Swedish.