Outside Café de la Cascade in the Bois de Boulogne

Hugo Birger (1854 - 1887)

Artist/Maker

Artist: Hugo Birger (1854 - 1887)

DatesMade: Made ca 1880

Material / Technique

Oil on canvas

Dimensionsh x w: Mått 33 x 52 cm h x w x d: Ram 42 x 60 x 5 cm

Inventory numberNM 4232

AcqusitionPurchase 1946

Other titlesTitle (sv): Vid Café de la Cascade i Bois de Boulogne, Paris Title (en): Outside Café de la Cascade in the Bois de Boulogne Previous: Outside Café de la Cascade in the Bois de Boulogne. Study Previous: Utanför en restaurang i Bois de Boulogne, Paris. Skiss

DescriptionDescription: It is said that Hugo Birger introduced the top hat into Swedish art. He was the first artist to paint urbane city life as it developed in the late 1800s. Here, he has depicted the outdoor seating area of the Café de la Cascade, which was in Bois de Boulogne in Paris. The painting is one of several studies for a planned larger composition that was never realised.

Depicted place

Bois de Boulogne

Collection

Paintings (Paintings)

MaterialOil paint, Duk

TechniquePainting

Keyword

Stadsbild

External links

Wikidata: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q18600028

Additional texteDescription: This sketch is like a snapshot. Elegantly-dressed men and women are sitting talking at an outdoor cafe. A lady in a long red dress is being escorted by a man in a top hat. A waiter in a white apron shows them to a table. The Bois de Boulogne park had been a popular entertainment and recreation ground for the Parisians ever since it opened in 1852 – and it was an obvious scene for Hugo Birger to paint, since he liked to portray modern people in urban settings. Description: Hugo Birger is said to have stated: “I will introduce the top hat in Swedish art”. And more than anyone else, he became the painter of modern life. He turned social life, everyday life and the life of the artist into the central themes of his pictures, like in the study from a cafe in Bois de Boulogne. His own destiny shows how hard the conditions were. Despite his great talent, he lived in constant poverty and never got a real breakthrough.