måndag 11 april 2011

A freckled boy....

..playing on the beach before the disaster.
This is an oil painting I made some days ago.
The youngster above is a childhood friend of mine and he is playing at a particular Sandhamn (Stockholm archipelago) beach in the 50´s. At this white-sandy pretty beach,
daily swimming lessons for the kids on the island were held through a number of summers, as were many junior regattas..
The old picure is from the beginning of the 1900´s though. "Barnens regatta" has been a big event on Sandhamn through well over a century now.

The thing was that close to this beautiful beach, the island´s sewers led straight out into the sea - untreated. This was the 50´s remember. And this was the days before the polio vaccinations, alas.
Jonas Salk

Some of my friends subsequently caught polio here.
Me and my sister, went to another swimming school on the other side of our island, close to where we lived - with no sewage.

So this is a tribute to "A freckled boy" who caught the dreaded desease, but thanks God, is OK
today.

(And yes, you observant viewer, it is also tribute to Isaac Grunewald, my favourite painter!)