From the Collections: Winter!

Maleri av fjell i isblå toner, med en mørk blå himmel med stjerner

Harald Sohlberg: Vinternatt i Rondane (Akvarell og pastell på papir, 1911)

Take a look at some of the winter motifs and landscapes from our collections!

Maleri av et vintermotiv med et rødt hus i bakgrunnen, og et tre uten blader i forgrunnen

Edvard Munch's "Winter Night" is painted from Ekely in 1930-31 and is displayed at Rasmus Meyer.

Ekely was Munch's home for the last 28 years of his life. We see the red house through the branches of a tree, a winter night in a snow-covered landscape. Trees and bushes cast blue shadows in the light of the moon.

Both red houses and winter nights are recurring themes in Munch's work, with the color red often expressing unease and anxiety.

As we discover that the tree has the same shape as the skull in Munch's famous painting "The Scream," the motif takes on an additional symbolic meaning. The painting was created almost 30 years after "The Scream," which had already become a well-known image by this time.

Motiv av Fisketorget i Bergen, hvor en mengde mennesker beveger seg, med sjøboder i bakgrunnen og snø på bakken — Frederik Collett: Fra Bergen (1876-77)

Here, we see a winter scene of Fisketorget in Bergen.

The open space is bustling with life, and in our collection database, it is described as a "varied public life."

Fredrik Collett is classified as a naturalist and was fascinated by the color and material effects of snow. He was, among other things, a student of Hans Gude in the 1860s and later influenced by the French impressionists. This motif is one of his earliest depictions of snowy scenes.

Maleri av et snødekket tre med åser i bakgrunnen, i hvite, blå og rosa fargetoner — Jacob Gløersen: Gran i snø (1896)

Maleri av en flokk med gule ender og sorte gjess, under trær, på en snødekket overflate — Edvard Munch: Ender og kalkuner i vinterlandskap (1913)

Maleri av en kirkegård, utført i lysblå, rosa og hvitt — Thorvald Erichsen: Kirkegården (1907)

Some depict winter quite fittingly in cold color tones.

Maleri av en mann som leier en hest mot en rødmalt stall, med flere andre hester og en fører i bakgrunnen. Det er snø på bakken. — Frits Thaulow: Hjemvendende tømmerkjørere (1892)

Frits Thaulow's motif may evoke a Christmas-like atmosphere for some, perhaps triggering associations with familiar Christmas movies.

Sort-hvitt motiv av en tre dekket av tung snø. Stjerner på den mørke himmelen over. — Erik Werenskiold: Vinternatt (Streketsning på papir, 1911)

Et motiv som viser en stavkirke dekket av snø, mellom snøtunge trær — Theodor Kittelsen: Kirke i snø (Akvarell på papir, 1907)

Et grafisk motiv fra Snorres kongesagaer, hvor vi ser tre menn på ski gjennom et landskap med snø og trær — Halfdan Egedius: Torodd og hans følgesvenn på ski med Arnljot Gelline (tegning, illustrasjon til Snorres kongesagaer, 1899).

Beautiful depictions of winter motifs can also be found on works on paper in the collection.

Maleri av isblå fjell mot en mørk blå himmel med stjerner — Harald Sohlberg: Vinternatt i Rondane (Akvarell og pastell på papir, 1911)

Did you know that Harald Sohlberg (1869–1935) created several versions of the famous "Winter Night in the Rondane Mountains"?

In Kode's collection, we find one version on paper, executed in watercolor and pastel, from 1911.

Here, we see blue-white snow-covered mountains in moonlight, with twisted pine trees in the foreground. In the depression between the two mountains, Rondeslottet and Høgronden, a star casts light over the landscape. Right in front, a fox lurks.

The most well-known version, the painting with the same title from 1914, is in the collection of the National Museum and has previously been acclaimed as Norway's national painting.

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