Moose Family Entering a Clearing

Bruno Liljefors was probably the most influential animal painter of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, at a time when wildlife art was still emerging from its association with scientific depiction and taxidermy. Liljefors's lifelong activities as a hunter motivated his close study of animal life, and in his art he approached his subject not as a descriptive narrator, but as an ecologist, seeking to show animals in interaction with their environmental setting in the landscape. Moose Family Entering a Clearing is a strong example of Liljefors's late work. Through its convincing sense of immediacy, shimmering light effects, and accurately rendered subjects, the painting demonstrates the fine line between impressionism and painterly realism.