The Entry of King Gustav Vasa of Sweden into Stockholm, 1523 1908

Carl Larsson made this historical painting of King Gustav Vasa’s entry into Stockholm, sometime before 1919. It’s like a carefully staged tableau vivant, all grey and white, and rendered with the precise, almost obsessive detail that makes you think of drawing, more than painting. The whole image is a study in balance, the solid mass of spectators on the left mirroring the dynamic procession on the right. It’s like Larsson is juggling different ideas about stillness and movement, formality and dynamism, making the whole image shimmer with potential energy. Look at the horse, for example, with its deliberately paced stride: each step is a calculated placement, a study in controlled power. What I find so interesting is how the artist brings together many different strands of art history into one unified image. The old masters would be proud.