Nikolai Astrup: Marsh Marigold Night, c.1915
Colour woodcut on paper
The Savings Bank Foundation DNB/The Astrup Collection/KODE Art Museums of Bergen

Celebrated in Norway, Nikolai Astrup (1880 – 1928) is barely known elsewhere, largely because all his work remains in his native country. The Dulwich Picture Gallery presents this landscape artist and innovative printmaker in Painting Norway (until 15 May). Astrup’s work has none of the depressively dark Scandinavian atmosphere the recent Munch show had. Instead there is a magical quality in scenes from his beloved childhood home where the yellow marsh marigolds flowered, the steep lakeside shores of the adult home now called Astruptunet after him and the bonfires of midsummer nights on the lake. His fusion of woodblock printing and oil painting is well illustrated with multiple versions of the same block.

Nikolai Astrup March Atmosphere at Jølstravatnet, (Before 1908) Private Collection, Oslo

Nikolai Astrup Midsummer Eve Bonfire, After c.1917 The Savings Bank Foundation DNB/The Astrup Collection/KODE Art Museums of Bergen

Nikolai Astrup The Parsonage The Savings Bank Foundation DNB/The Astrup Collection/KODE Art Museums of Bergen