Kolonilotter or allotments, modelled on those in Denmark, were established in southern Sweden in the mid-1890s. The oldest in Stockholm date from 1905 and the driving force behind their development in the city was the politician Anna Lindhagen (1870-1941). The Barnängen allotments (est. 1906) in Södermlam, visited recently, are lovely examples of what have become productive summer gardens with little wooden buildings, fences, outside eating areas, and plenty of flowers - all very Carl Larsson. 

There are more than a million Schrebergärten or allotments in Germany. The concept of organised allotment gardening evolved from the mid-1860s when the Schreber Movement started in the city of Leipzig, initially to provide green spaces for children to play in during the period of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. 

This week on the Post we are answering our own question, posed in July 2019: "The allotment. A magic word. Do they exist worldwide?" Certainly they do in other European countries. In France there are potagers (kitchen gardens with a mix of produce and flowers) and jardins ouvriers or jardins familiaux which are closer to allotments. And in some places such as Amiens there are hortillonages, floating gardens created in the Middle Ages from marshland, and accessed by a network of small canals which makes for a fascinating boat trip for visitors.

This is Sunlight in the Blue Room (1891, Skagens Museum) by Anna Ancher 1859-1935), a fine example of her use of colour and ability to capture the play of Skagen light in her domestic interiors. The full title explains it is her daughter Helga crocheting in a room in Brøndrums Hotel where her grandmother, Anna's mother, often sat. The Dulwich Picture Gallery is using this painting in the publicity for its Anna Ancher exhibition which opens on 4th November this year.

The Skagens Museum exhibition shows how the Skagen painters also used the new medium of photography to compose images which might later serve as the basis for paintings of locals, fishermen, and each other Here we see a photo of Michael Ancher (1849-1927) and PS Krøyer (1851-1909) which was used by Laurits Tuxen (1853-1927, in the background here) for his 1910 sculpture which has stood outside the Museum since 1928 (sadly, there is no figure of Anna Ancher).