Fox Family
A vixen with her cubs in the grass of late summer. Liljefors painted animals in their natural surroundings and, as a hunter and naturalist, knew their behaviour well.
The foxes’ colouring blends into the grass – Liljefors was fascinated by how animals camouflage themselves.
Bruno Liljefors was born in Uppsala in 1860. He trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm but left in protest, and then studied in Düsseldorf and Paris, among other places. He became one of the foremost animal painters in Europe. Fox Family was painted in 1886 and now belongs to the Nationalmuseum. For long periods he lived in the countryside of Uppland, close to the animals and terrain he painted.
The picture shows a vixen with her cubs in tall grass on a late-summer day. The foxes are gathered close together in the grass. The colour of their fur blends with the dry grass. The light is warm and even, and the scene feels still and natural, like a snapshot of life in the wild. The foxes’ eyes and ears are keenly observed, and the grass in the foreground is painted blade by blade. Everything in the picture is subdued and unified.
Liljefors was a passionate hunter and observer of nature. He spent a great deal of time outdoors studying animals in their habitats. He was particularly interested in how animals adapt to their surroundings, and how colours and patterns make them almost invisible. His animals are never decorative but part of a living landscape. He often kept animals at home so that he could study them at close quarters.
The composition shows Japanese influence. Liljefors had seen Japanese woodcuts, which were popular among artists in Paris in the 1880s. He often used high horizons, cropped motifs and empty spaces. This gave his pictures a modern and unusual feel, very different from traditional animal painting. The picture surface is filled with grass, and the animals almost disappear into it.
Liljefors was one of the Opponents, the young artists who protested against the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 1885. He wanted to paint the Swedish landscape and its wildlife with fresh eyes. His pictures have had a great influence on Swedish depictions of nature, both in art and in photography. He was one of the few in the group who devoted himself almost entirely to animals.
He painted in oil on canvas and often worked with strong contrasts of light and shade, although Fox Family in particular has a soft and even palette. In later years his pictures often became larger and more dramatic, with hunting scenes and the struggle between predator and prey. White-tailed eagles, seabirds and foxes on the hunt became recurring motifs in his later work.
Liljefors died in 1939. His art is today associated with a genuinely Swedish love of nature. Fox Family is one of his best-known pictures and shows his ability to combine close observation with a modern pictorial form. He also painted large decorative works, including some for the Biological Museum in Stockholm.