The longest day of the year is widely celebrated across Scandinavia. On this day of Midsommar, everyone rejoices in the prolonged light and life the summer season brings. Crowns of flowers adorned on women and children symbolize this rebirth. They all collect their own flowers in silence, so that the blossoms’ magical properties may transfer to their collector. Yet, such prosperous blessings seem out of reach for the girl in this painting. Her wreath appears to weigh her down, as if embedded with heavy thoughts. The girl depicted mirrors the painter’s own experiences in moving to Sweden, leaving her life behind and starting anew.

Eva Wientjes holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Art History from the University of Groningen. She went on to study Classical Drawing and Painting at the Florence Academy of Art in Sweden, where she became Principal Instructor after graduating in 2023.

Throughout her studies, Wientjes compiled an expansive mental library of painterly references that inspire her own work, especially by masters Rembrandt and Andrew Wyeth. Wientjes is also influenced by Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum, whom she studied with in the winter of 2023. His work taught her to look beyond the merely visual reality. With Midsommar, Wientjes embodies this: “My painting sits not in the present, not in the past, nor the future. It transcends and lives on across all times. That is my philosophy: to paint in communication with something bigger, to paint universal experiences that are not temporary or fixed in time.”