Triumph of Venus (Selfportrait), 1906

Ivar Arosenius stages a wry, theatrical “triumph” in a cool, blue-green twilight: Venus—pale, buoyant, and improbably elevated—glides into view like a carnival apparition, attended by a loose procession of onlookers, masqueraders, and half-sketched figures. The setting is disarmingly ordinary—a house with a lit balcony, tall trees framing the central…