Waterfall in Småland

Dark clouds loom across the sky. The wind whistles through the treetops and the river crashes over rocks and boulders. This is roaring, foaming water that sweeps away everything in its path. No living beings can be seen, but their existence is suggested – in paths, huts and the sunlit clocktower in the little village in the background to the right. But in this landscape, human existence is definitely subordinate to the immutable power of nature. Marcus Larson painted this picture in a studio in Paris in the 1850s, a long way from the forests of southern Sweden. His main aim was to create a painting that would convey a sense of the sublime to the viewer. He made use of photographs, his own nature studies and new industrially produced cadmium and chromium paints to achieve the effects he sought.