Kōrero: Painting

Swedish artist Edward Friström's painting of Motutapu in the Hauraki Gulf was made about 1908, when he did much travelling and painting around New Zealand. As seen here, his landscape paintings avoided sublime mountain scenes and he was one of the first painters in New Zealand to portray the beach. Friström usually worked outside, but would often rework the subject in oils in the studio. His loose brushwork and his use of unusual colours, especially mauves and peacock blues, demonstrate similarities with European expressionism.