Walking in the woods alone

Bertha Wegmann was one of Denmark’s most popular portrait artists in her day. Her works were highly regarded for the subtle depictions of the subjects, informed by psychological insight. Recent scholarly research has cast new light on Wegmann’s oeuvre and the possible identity of the young woman in blue seen here walking in a forest. The woman is believed to be Swedish author Toni Möller, whom Bertha met in 1892. The two later became life partners. The young woman looks directly at the painter with a melancholic expression; a flower is placed in the book she holds in her left hand. Her loose dress shows no indication that she is corseted as was de rigueur at the time, perhaps a sign of the times given the rise in the women’s rights movement around 1900. This is not a portrait commissioned by a member of the social élite; rather, it is more intimate portrayal of someone who was part of the artist’s coterie. As the title suggests, the artist and subject are alone, exchanging direct gazes with each other in the seclusion of a natural setting.  On close inspection, the artist’s initials, BW, are visible as carved letters on a tree trunk in the background.

The National Gallery of Iceland collection includes four paintings by Bertha Wegmann, received in 1929 from the artist’s estate after her death; the museum was one of several Nordic art collections to which the artist bequeathed works. Swiss by birth, the Wegmann pursued advanced studies in Germany, and spent long periods in Paris, as part of a group of Nordic women who went there in search of greater freedom and better education than was available to them at home.