Works by one of the brightest stars of Swedish art history, Anders Zorn, are now on display at Orderupgaard Art Museum in Copenhagen. Zorn has been of great significance for the perception of Swedish culture through his portraits of life in Dalarne. Read more about Swedish art history on display in Denmark.
Based on local life – nature, homelife and local traditions – Zorn evokes timeless ideal images of the good life. Moreover, the works attest to a local social engagement and the belief in the importance of the local community, themes that are highly topical in our own times.

50 works on display
The exhibition, collocating fifty works by Zorn plus a few items of furniture from Emma and Anders Zorn’s home in Mora, forms part of a series of exhibitions about Nordic artists’ homes at Ordrupgaard.
The Swedish artist Anders Zorn (1860–1920) was one of the best-loved and most acclaimed artists of his time. Already from a young age, he achieved great success on the international art scene with his flattering portraits of society’s bigwigs from art collectors and financial moguls to American presidents. However, there was another side to Zorn, far removed from metropolitan feted artists’ lives and high social circles. Throughout his life, Zorn always returned to his native area of Dalarna and the local life in which he was deeply rooted.
«I deeply long for the old peninsula, the best under the sun. Soon nothing else will do for me than things Swedish» wrote Anders Zorn in 1884 in a letter to his betrothed, Emma Lamm (later Zorn).

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A testament of the artist’s love for his native town Mora by Lake Siljan
Already in 1886, Zorn and his wife Emma bought a plot of land in his native town of Mora by Lake Siljan in Dalarna County. Ten years later, the couple settled permanently in this area. This became a turning point for Zorn, who now turned even more to Swedish nature and the Mora residents portrayed in their original environment. It was not a case of a nostalgic or romantic looking back to a world before it was thrown out of joint, but rather of empathetic and supportive portrayals of the local population, which Zorn himself felt closely associated with, nourished by a deep-rooted wish to pass on the cultural life of this area.
The couple’s engagement in the region resulted, for example, in the establishment of Mora Folk High School which taught local music, dancing, cabinetmaking traditions, and textile art and, later, the setting up of Mora Open-Air Museum.

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Important for the understanding of Swedish culture
Zorn’s attachment to the area around Mora is manifested in atmospheric portrayals of the archipelago, the seasonal celebrations, the sauna, and popular Dalarna culture. The works are, like Larsson’s, very significant for the understanding of Swedish culture. To the Zorn couple, Mora came to symbolize things that were unspoilt which, in contrast to contemporary industrialization, emphasized local traditions and crafts. Now, hundred years later, their ideas appear visionary and relevant as a contrast to the rising consumerism.

The exhibition is now open and lasts through 9 January 2022.
The exhibition is financed by Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond and Augustinus Fonden
Swedish Art History On Display In Denmark, based on a press release from Ordupgaard
Feature image (on top): Emma Zorn reading. Photo: Store norske leksikon