View from Stalheim | |
---|---|
Norwegian: Fra Stalheim | |
Artist | Johan Christian Dahl |
Year | 1842 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 190 cm × 246 cm (75 in × 97 in) |
Location | National Gallery of Norway, Oslo |
Accession | NG.M.01060 |
Website |
digitaltmuseum |
View from Stalheim ( Norwegian: Fra Stalheim) is an 1842 oil painting by Johan Christian Dahl of the mountainous view from Stalheim, Voss, Hordaland. It is a major work of Romantic nationalism and has become a national icon. It is regarded as one of Dahl's best works.
The painting shows the view from the peak at Stalheim over the Nærøy Valley towards the sugarloaf-shaped peak of Jordalsnuten [1] [2] in late afternoon sunshine, framed by peaks and a rainbow. The sun shines on a small village near the centre. Dahl has clearly delineated figures and buildings even in the distance, creating "a world in miniature". [3] One of his purposes was realism; the other was to capture the glory and magnificence of the mountains, and associated with that, of his country's culture. [3] [4] [5] In this evocation of grandeur the painting prefigures later US landscapes, in particular Church's Rainy Season in the Tropics (1866), which has a similar crowning rainbow. [3] [6] The rainbow itself, a symbol of reconciliation, peace, and in Christianity of God's grace, [7] was also frequently used by Joseph Anton Koch and by Dahl's friend and associate Caspar David Friedrich. [8]
Dahl began work on the painting in 1836 and completed it in 1842. [9] [10] It is based on two pencil and watercolour sketches he had made from the Gudvangen road in July 1826 [11] [12] [13] during his first visit to the high mountain regions of Norway. The final version is close to the studies in both composition and details, including the sunlight highlighting the village; [3] but Dahl has intensified the imagery by narrowing the valley, giving more prominence to the Jordalsnuten peak and less to the reappearance of the river from the shadows. [4]
Dahl had trouble with the painting and avoided similarly large works after its completion. [14]
The painting was made for Countess Wedel of Bogstad. [14] Carl Gustav Wedel-Jarlsberg gave it to the National Gallery of Norway in 1914. [15]
The painting is regarded as one of Dahl's best, [16] [17] perhaps his most successful realisation of his aim of depicting the mountains both realistically and as national symbols. [3] [5] It has become a national icon. [6] [7] Other painters have also depicted the scene, [1] and even more than his other Norwegian landscapes, this one drove tourists to visit the site: the luxury hotel built at Stalheim in 1885 is attributable to it. [4]
View from Stalheim | |
---|---|
Norwegian: Fra Stalheim | |
Artist | Johan Christian Dahl |
Year | 1842 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 190 cm × 246 cm (75 in × 97 in) |
Location | National Gallery of Norway, Oslo |
Accession | NG.M.01060 |
Website |
digitaltmuseum |
View from Stalheim ( Norwegian: Fra Stalheim) is an 1842 oil painting by Johan Christian Dahl of the mountainous view from Stalheim, Voss, Hordaland. It is a major work of Romantic nationalism and has become a national icon. It is regarded as one of Dahl's best works.
The painting shows the view from the peak at Stalheim over the Nærøy Valley towards the sugarloaf-shaped peak of Jordalsnuten [1] [2] in late afternoon sunshine, framed by peaks and a rainbow. The sun shines on a small village near the centre. Dahl has clearly delineated figures and buildings even in the distance, creating "a world in miniature". [3] One of his purposes was realism; the other was to capture the glory and magnificence of the mountains, and associated with that, of his country's culture. [3] [4] [5] In this evocation of grandeur the painting prefigures later US landscapes, in particular Church's Rainy Season in the Tropics (1866), which has a similar crowning rainbow. [3] [6] The rainbow itself, a symbol of reconciliation, peace, and in Christianity of God's grace, [7] was also frequently used by Joseph Anton Koch and by Dahl's friend and associate Caspar David Friedrich. [8]
Dahl began work on the painting in 1836 and completed it in 1842. [9] [10] It is based on two pencil and watercolour sketches he had made from the Gudvangen road in July 1826 [11] [12] [13] during his first visit to the high mountain regions of Norway. The final version is close to the studies in both composition and details, including the sunlight highlighting the village; [3] but Dahl has intensified the imagery by narrowing the valley, giving more prominence to the Jordalsnuten peak and less to the reappearance of the river from the shadows. [4]
Dahl had trouble with the painting and avoided similarly large works after its completion. [14]
The painting was made for Countess Wedel of Bogstad. [14] Carl Gustav Wedel-Jarlsberg gave it to the National Gallery of Norway in 1914. [15]
The painting is regarded as one of Dahl's best, [16] [17] perhaps his most successful realisation of his aim of depicting the mountains both realistically and as national symbols. [3] [5] It has become a national icon. [6] [7] Other painters have also depicted the scene, [1] and even more than his other Norwegian landscapes, this one drove tourists to visit the site: the luxury hotel built at Stalheim in 1885 is attributable to it. [4]