Dance at the bridge

Hugo Simberg was Finland's most original Symbolist, whose imagery drew on folk tradition, the personification of death, and a darkly playful vision of the supernatural. Dance at the Bridge from 1903 belongs to a period when Simberg was recovering from a severe illness that had nearly killed him and had deepened his preoccupation with the threshold between life and death. Bridges in Finnish folk belief were liminal spaces — thresholds between worlds — and dance was associated with both communal celebration and with spirits. Simberg's particular genius was to handle such themes with an almost casual lightness that makes the uncanny feel entirely natural. Serlachius Manor holds this alongside other Finnish Symbolist works.

Simberg's handling combines the flat, high-keyed palette of late Symbolism with a draftsmanlike precision of contour recalling his training with Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The figures are stylized without becoming purely decorative, retaining enough individual character to make their strange situation affecting rather than merely ornamental.