Painting - Romanticism to Realism
When Dresden lost its significance as the spiritual centre of Germany during the 1830s, the Norwegian artists following J C Dahl found their new centre in Düsseldorf. This generation, ‘the Düsseldorfers’, made painting accessible to the Norwegian public and their work became known in Norwegian tradition as National Romanticism. This era is irrevocably linked to the work of Adolph Tiedeman (1814- 1876) and Hans Gude (1825-1903), who together created the painting which even today stands as a symbol of Norwegianness – Brudferden i Hardanger (‘Bridal Voyage in Hardanger’). August Cappelen (1827-1852), who painted wildlife scenery in the Telemark region, and Lars Hertervig (1830-1902), who created a more personal interpretation of the scenery, are other examples of Norwegian Romanticist painters educated in Düsseldorf.
Other noteworthy figures from this era include Amaldus Nielsen (1838-1932), Olaf Isaachsen (1835-1893) and Carls Sundt-Hansen (1841-1907). The Romanticist emphasis remained focused on the farmer, even in paintings of western Norway and the coastline, depicting them working the fields in traditional costume.
Yet there already seems to have been an awareness of a new age on the horizon and a perception that this romanticised vision of the farming community would soon become the stuff of folk legend. And precisely because it was believed that this idyllic rural scene was about to disappear, the farmer became a symbol of the genuine Norway the artists had all along been trying to identify.
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