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Spanish Blacksmith
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Bright emotions
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Quiet emotions
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Sombre emotions
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Spanish Blacksmith
Date
1882
Description
Creator of the image: Ernst Josephson
Date of the image creation: 1882
Medium of the image: Oil on canvas
Person depicted: A Spanish blacksmith
Ernest Josephson (1851–1906) came from a family of successful Jewish merchants who played important roles in Swedish cultural life. Josephson contracted syphilis at a young age. Beginning in 1888, he became mentally ill. Gripped by a series of mystical experiences, visions and delusions, Josephson was diagnosed with schizophrenia. This did not stop him from continuing to paint, with his later works composed in a trance-like-state.
Before succumbing to schizophrenia, Josephson travelled Spain in 1881 with three other artists. Their aim was to see the works of the great Spanish masters in the various museums and to depict the folk-life of the peasants. The Spanish Smiths was pained in Triana, a Romani dominated area of Seville. The workers asked Josephson if he could depict them standing outside their smithy. Painted with thick, expressive brushstrokes, the man is standing between two other smiths. Wearing ragged clothing, the man casually folds his arms, a pair of metal work tongs in his right hand. The smith holds his head at a slight angle and looks directly at the artist, and thus the viewer. There is a sense of comfort and confidence in his pose, a subtle smile on his face as a cigarette hangs from his lips.
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