Garden at the Sun (Spanish Colonial Garden)
Oil on canvas
20 x 31 1/8 inches
1904
Now on view: Spartanburg Academic Movement, Spartanburg, South Carolina
As published in: Scenic Impressions: Southern Interpretations from the Johnson Collection
As exhibited in: Scenic Impressions: Southern Interpretations from the Johnson Collection, 2015–2018, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee; Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia; Telfair Museums, Savannah, Georgia; Knoxville Museum of Art, Tennessee; Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts at Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina
Bror Wikstrom was a versatile artist, having trained in the academic tradition at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm and in Paris. A leading designer of New Orleans Mardi Gras floats and costumes, his imaginative, resplendent productions often derived from exotic Middle Eastern literature. These commissions brought Wikstrom substantial wealth.
Garden at the Sun (Spanish Colonial Garden) may be a Louisiana scene or perhaps a locale in Florida, a favorite vacation destination for the artist. The canvas portrays a lush garden setting replete with potted flowers, vines, and trees that obscure low profile stucco buildings. Light dances across structures and vegetation alike to create an image of quiet tranquility.