À janela

Heyerdahl had trained in Munich, where painting meant dark studios and careful brown tones. By 1881, when he made this, he had moved to Paris and was watching what the French were doing with daylight. You can see him testing it here. The woman sits by an open window, half in the cool shadow of the room and half in the summer light off the garden. According to his family she was his first wife, the singer Maren Christine, her head resting on her hand, lost in her own thoughts. He kept her dressed in deep blue so the bright greens and glare outside would carry the picture. The whole scene is painted on a wooden panel not much larger than a sheet of writing paper.