SOHLBERG, Harald Oskar

Sohlberg’s work from the 1880s shows the influence of the Naturalist painting of this period, but on his d�but at the Kristiania Autumn Exhibition in 1894 with Night Glow (1893; National Gallery, Oslo), it was evident that his painting was already developing away from the Naturalist tradition. In the following years, Sohlberg continued to evolve the artistic programme that formed Night Glow, but this painting already exhibits most of the characteristics that were to dominate his mature work.

In Night Glow, without distancing himself from the naturalistic form of the objects observed, Sohlberg reproduces nature at the moment of its greatest intensity. He achieves spatial depth by contrasting the dark, densely detailed foreground with its silhouette outlined against a lighter background. The colours are powerfully evocative; Sohlberg experimented with a glazing technique that intensified the glowing intensity of the colours.

Sohlberg is probably the most “Nordic” of all the Norwegian painters in the clarity of his light and his almost surreal vision of nature.

Harald Sohlberg had his first encounter with Rondane in 1899. His experience of winter in the mountains was decisive in his further development as an artist. He painted many motifs from Rondane, and indeed the most successful work of his career was Winter Night in the Mountains, which on several occasions has been named Norway’s “national painting”.

Sohlberg and his wife, Lilli Hennum, lived in Røros in the early 1900s. The streets and the church in Røros are familiar motifs in his paintings. Solberg’s paintings from Røros attracted widespread attention and were one of the elements that prompted the restoration of Røros Mining Town to its original appearance. Røros Mining Town and the Circumference district were protected in 1980 and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Harald Sohlberg had his first encounter with Rondane in 1899. His experience of winter in the mountains was decisive in his further development as an artist. He painted many motifs from Rondane, and indeed the most successful work of his career was Winter Night in the Mountains, which on several occasions has been named Norway’s “national painting”.

Sohlberg and his wife, Lilli Hennum, lived in Røros in the early 1900s. The streets and the church in Røros are familiar motifs in his paintings. Solberg’s paintings from Røros attracted widespread attention and were one of the elements that prompted the restoration of Røros Mining Town to its original appearance. Røros Mining Town and the Circumference district were protected in 1980 and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A table set for two stands on a veranda with a broad view of a nocturnal landscape. The meal seems to have been finished: the stools have been casually pushed aside, and the people have presumably gone indoors. The veranda door remains ajar and reflects the landscape in its window pane. Half-empty glasses and carafes and a pair of women’s gloves are on the table, and a hat has been left on the flower box. The house’s sharply foreshortened exterior wall and the colourful diagonal of flowers add perspectival verve to the painting. Attention is drawn toward the landscape’s dark silhouettes and the luminous evening sky in the distance. There is tension in the painting between the foreground’s colourful wealth of detail and the background’s simplified shapes and tones.

The painting can be seen as an atmospheric homage to the luminous Nordic summer nights, even as it expresses a strong, almost cosmic experience of the infinite sky high above the rolling hills. It is conceivable that the artist also wanted to convey the sense of silence and solitude that can pervade a landscape. As so often in Harald Sohlberg’s works, the painting is devoid of people.

At the time he painted this picture, Sohlberg lived in a small flat in the residential neighbourhood of Nordstrand in Kristiania, with a view towards the islets in the inner Kristianiafjord and the hills of Bærum. Summer Night was intimately connected to his own life, as it depicts the celebration of his engagement. The thoughts, written down by Sohlberg concerning the painting, also dwell on love, family life, and expectant joy.

Harald Sohlberg discovered the motif for “Winter Night in the Mountains” during an Easter skiing trip. He created many sketches and different versions of the motif before this famous painting was completed. Sohlberg made his first sketch for the painting on the train home from the skiing trip in 1899; the final version was not completed until 1914.

This painting would emerge as the most important motif of Sohlberg’s career. After his first trip, he returned to the mountains in Rondane several times to be near the source of his inspiration. He also took photographs that he used as study material. Sohlberg worked on depicting the mountains in Rondane for 15 years, resulting in several paintings, some drawings and a popular print.

In most versions Sohlberg produced of Rondane, the mountains resemble a snow-covered palace, and there is no sign of human activity. A few exceptions are versions with a cabin and some skiers. In the final and largest version, the snow-covered mountains tower in a nocturnal landscape. Stars can be glimpsed in the murky sky, and in the foreground, the bushes and trees display their dark, naked winter silhouettes. Almost like a stage curtain, they are gathered on each side of the picture, drawing us into the cold, blue realm of winter. Sohlberg was intent on ensuring that the foreground was not too dense and overcrowded: “It must not give a desolate and wild effect. Because this is where the night and anxiety of the picture should reside.”

This painting is Harald Sohlberg’s most significant work, and although it was executed rather late in relation to the golden age of symbolism, it perhaps represents the pinnacle of symbolist landscapes in Norway. It was first shown at the 1914 Jubilee Exhibition commemorating the centennial of the Norwegian Constitution.