Man Attacked by Several Fish

Anders Zorn's "Man Attacked by Several Fish" is a delightfully whimsical pen and red ink drawing that reveals the Swedish artist's sense of humor. The drawing shows a man, presumably a fisherman, being comically assaulted by a group of fish—a playful inversion of the normal predator-prey relationship between angler and fish. The fish are shown leaping out of the water, their bodies rendered with Zorn's characteristic fluid pen strokes, while the man recoils in mock alarm. The red ink adds to the cartoonish, lighthearted effect. This drawing belongs to a series of humorous works that Zorn produced throughout his career, often as gifts for friends or as personal amusements. They show an artist who never took himself too seriously, despite his international fame and his position as one of the most sought-after portraitists of his era. The work also reflects Zorn's deep engagement with the natural world—even in jest, the fish are observed with a naturalist's eye, their forms accurately rendered even as they participate in the comedy.

Zorn's humorous drawings provide a valuable corrective to the formal image of the Gilded Age portraitist, revealing a playful, self-deprecating artist with a keen sense of the absurd.

This whimsical drawing reminds us that even the greatest artists found time for play, transforming a fisherman's tall tale into a work of art that brings a smile across more than a century.