Demolishing the Old Orphanage, Stockholm

Additional texteCatalogue text: In his poem ‘The Esplanade System’, from 1883, August Strindberg describes how a modern Stockholm was emerging at that time, with old houses being torn down ‘for light and air’. Schultzberg’s painting s a commentary on the same process. With razor-sharp realism he records the demolition of the old orphanage, meticulously capturing he early spring light, the many nuances of the gravel and rocks, and the clouds of dust. The subject of the painting is the gap left by the building, or rather, the light and air in this empty space.