The Thorn Bush

1886

Watercolor

Zorn had his breakthrough as a watercolorist. During the 1880s he worked exclusively as such. With his brilliant technique and feeling for the medium, he achieved mastery in the genre in early years. A walk in the forest on the island of Dalarö in Stockholm’s archipelago, gave rise to this watercolor. According to legend, Emma caught her skirt on a bush and asked her husband for help. But instead of helping, he told her to keep still, took out a box of watercolors and started painting. To the left we see a relative of Emma’s keeping her company. Earlier, this watercolor hung in Emma’s bedroom in the Zorn House.