As a classic oil study created in outdoor settings, Dahl shows us an intimate section of nature in his old home country of Norway, near Christiana, today's Oslo. A row of pine trees in the centre of the picture and some fir trees on the left conceal a red-roofed wooden house, which is also surrounded by a low stone wall. It is a study of nature that is as finely painted as it is precisely observed, which lives entirely from the contrast between the shaded left part of the picture and the view of the wide landscape with a light blue sky on the right. During his numerous visits home from Dresden, the great Norwegian landscape painter painted countless oil studies that seem like declarations of love to his homeland. They are certainly also connected with his intense preoccupation with Norway's prehistory and its cultural identity. MM
Oil on cardboard on cardboard. 19 × 19 cm
(7 ½ × 7 ½ in.). Signed and dated lower right: d. 8 Juli 1844 Dahl / On the reverse the estate stamp: S. Dahl Nachlaß and inscribed: No. 125 [illegible term]. Catalogue raisonné: Bang 999. [3077] Framed
Provenance
Estate Siegwald Dahl, Dresden / Auksjon Kunstforeningen i København, Copenhagen, 14.3.1919 / Private Collection, Germany (acquired in 2018 at Blomqvist art dealership, Fornebu)
As a classic oil study created in outdoor settings, Dahl shows us an intimate section of nature in his old home country of Norway, near Christiana, today's Oslo. A row of pine trees in the centre of the picture and some fir trees on the left conceal a red-roofed wooden house, which is also surrounded by a low stone wall. It is a study of nature that is as finely painted as it is precisely observed, which lives entirely from the contrast between the shaded left part of the picture and the view of the wide landscape with a light blue sky on the right. During his numerous visits home from Dresden, the great Norwegian landscape painter painted countless oil studies that seem like declarations of love to his homeland. They are certainly also connected with his intense preoccupation with Norway's prehistory and its cultural identity. MM
