Karin reading 1904

Carl Larsson made this watercolour of Karin reading some time in the late 19th Century. The colour palette is soft, muted, like a memory or a dream, and the marks are gentle and considered, building up the image layer by layer. It's clear that this is as much about the process of seeing and feeling as it is about capturing a likeness. Look closely, and you can see the texture of the paper coming through the paint. The colours bleed into each other, creating a sense of depth and atmosphere. Karin's red tartan shawl is rendered with a delicate touch, each line and shade carefully placed to create a sense of volume and form. The lines throughout the image are so delicately rendered, like a caress. And the way Larsson renders Karin's face, with its soft, kind features, invites us to enter her world, if only for a moment. There’s something about this work that reminds me of the domestic interiors of Vilhelm Hammershoi, another master of quiet contemplation and light. And like Hammershoi, Larsson invites us to slow down, to savour the beauty of the everyday, and to find meaning in the simplest of things.