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PROPERTY FROM A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION f - NIKOLAI ASTRUP NORWEGIAN, 1880-1928 ST. HANSBÅL VED STRANDEN (ST. HANS FESTIVAL)

signed with initials N. A. l.l.

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Acquired by the family of the present owner in 1928; thence by descent
EXHIBITED

Bergens Kunstforening, Nikolai Astrup, 1928, no. 115
Oslo, Kunstnernes Hus, Nikolai Astrup, 1955, no. 115
Copenhagen, Kunstforeningen, Nikolai Astrup, 1965, no. 17
Bergen Kunstforening, Nikolai Astrup, 1980, no. 79
LITERATURE AND REFERENCES

Øystein Loge, Gartneren under regnbuen, Nikolai Astrup, Oslo, 1986, p. 309, no. K 146
CATALOGUE NOTE

Painted circa 1924. The annual celebration of St. Hans' festival throughout Norway over mid-summer held a particular fascination for Astrup. The occasion not only reaffirmed contemporary Norway's links with its folkloric past, a theme that lies at the heart of Astrup's work, but presented to him a ritual of pagan origin which as the son of a pastor he had been forbidden to participate in.

As an artist, however, he returned to the subject on many occasions, revelling in the glory of the bonfire and the primal forces it evoked. Significantly, and perhaps because of his father's disapproval of the ritual, Astrup invariably depicted the scene from afar, as viewed by a detached onlooker rather than a participant. The effect is to heighten the sense of mystery and sheer devilishness of the event, the tiny troll-like figures who do take part being dwarfed by the frenzy of the fire, and the billowing smoke that sullies the clean night air.

Astrup's obsession with this ritual linking Norway to its roots, recalls Paul Gauguin's similiar fascination with the primordial force of fire, a theme that he explored both in Brittany and in Tahiti.