Book Description
"Nikolai Astrup: Visions of Norway will introduce this singular artist to new American and international audiences. The catalogue will follow the artist's life and career in roughly chronological order, situating his work within the history of his native Norway. It will showcase Astrup's early works depicting the landscape of Jølster and childhood home at Ålhus and culminate with his most dramatic paintings, which celebrate the midsummer eve bonfires that mark the festival night in June that merges pagan fertility rites with St. John the Baptist's Saint's Day. This catalogue tells the story of an extraordinary artistic life devoted to landscapes both sublime and personal. Astrup captured his environment as a means of expressing nature as a "dream reality" and created a distinctive national visual language. This beautiful book will bring the intensity of Astrup's palette, the magical realism of his landscapes, and the innovative nature of his prints to a wide audience throughout the world"--