Albert Edelfelt’s painting Summer Evening was completed in 1883 on commission from Consul Alfred Jacobsson. The work was executed at Haikko, in the artist’s newly built studio, during August and September. Edelfelt himself chose the subject, which depicts a Nordic summer evening in the archipelago: three girls in a boat row toward the shore to pick up a younger playmate. Models for the figures included, among others, Edelfelt’s sister Berta, Aina Ehrnrooth, Lily von Etter, and Nina von Lerche.

The work was preceded by an extensive sketching process, and several preparatory studies have been preserved, including an oil sketch that now belongs to the Åbo Akademi Foundation.

In a letter to the commissioner dated October 7, 1883, Edelfelt described the scene in detail and mentioned that the painting had already received praise from fellow artists. The finished work was sent to Turku (Åbo) in November of the same year and was met with great enthusiasm by Alfred and Hélène Jacobsson. The painting was hung in the family’s salon at Tavastgatan 30. Today, it still hangs in the same room, surrounded by its original furnishings, at the museum Ett Hem.

In 1884, Edelfelt was commissioned by art dealer Joseph Bulla to create a reproduction of Summer Evening. The reproduction is now held by Syracuse University and forms part of the university’s art museum collection. It differs somewhat from the original in size, color palette, and in the omission of certain details—such as the midsummer bonfire and a woman holding a child.

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