page_title: William Blair Bruce
section_title: Return to Europe
hierarchical_section_title: William Blair Bruce / Return to Europe
caption_attribution_description: English: Artists Carolina Benedicks-Bruce (1856-1935) and William Blair Bruce (1859-1906).
context_page_description: William Blair Bruce was a Canadian painter. He studied in France and became one of Canada's first impressionist painters. He lived most of his life in France and on the island of Gotland, Sweden, where he and his Swedish wife Carolina Benedicks-Bruce created the artists estate Brucebo, which was later established as a nature reserve.
context_section_description: Bruce returned to France a bolder artist. In 1887, he and a group of fellow artists such as the American painter Theodore Robinson, travelled to Giverny where they shared a house and, influenced by Monet who lived nearby, painted a number of impressive impressionist sketches. In 1888, on his return to Paris, he painted The Phantom Hunter, which became an instant success at the Salon and marked the peak of his career. He and Benedicks married at the British embassy in Stockholm on 5 December the same year. She provided energy and stability for Bruce throughout his life and also became his favorite model.
  In May 1889, the couple returned to Grez and Bruce wrote to his mother that "Grèz  [sic] is a great improvement on Barbizon, quite a different country in fact". A month later, Bruce also sold some paintings to the American artist Walter Gay, who was visiting Grez at the time. Bruce and Benedicks-Bruce continued to make annual visits to Grez up until 1894. They rented a small house, which had previously been the home of Carl Larsson and his wife Karin. It was here that Bruce painted his Open-Air Studio (now in the National Museum of Fine Arts, Stockholm). It is a view from their home in Grez, picturing Benedicks-Bruce doing an etching out-doors behind a sun screen. In 1895, the couple made a brief journey to Hamilton in Canada, where Bruce painted on the Six Nations Reserve. Throughout the 1890s, they led a bohemian life, travelling to Capri, Italy and Sweden where they took a liking to Gotland and its light.
  In 1900–06, the couple created a summer home called Brucebo (Swedish for: "The house where Bruce lives") on Gotland. Here, Bruce painted, did some amateur archaeology and socialized with the locals, while Benedicks-Bruce worked with sculptures and etchings as well as tended the garden and the many animals she had gathered at Brucebo.
  Bruce died suddenly on 17 November 1906 in Stockholm at the age of 47, and Benedicks-Bruce settled down permanently at Brucebo. After Bruce's death, a commemorative exhibition of 122 of his works was held in Paris in 1907. Carolina donated 29 of his paintings to the City of Hamilton. This donation became the foundation of the Art Gallery of Hamilton that opened in 1914. Even though Bruce enjoyed a good reputation towards the end of his life with 15 participations at the Salon, exhibitions in London, Toronto, Stockholm, Buffalo and came to influence many young artists in Canada, he remains as of 2015 relatively unknown. A large part of his production can be seen at Brucebo, which is now a museum managed by the Brucebo Foundation.
  Benedicks-Bruce lived at Brucebo until her death on 16 February 1935.
caption: Carolina Benedicks-Bruce and William Blair Bruce
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