beside the easel

Ponte Pietra, Verona 1894 Frits Thaulow was born on October 20 1847 in Oslo (formerly Christiania), Norway. A member of the Skagen Painters, Thaulow studied in Copenhagen and under Hans Gude . Thaulow painted in Skagen for a few years before returning to Norway and finally moving to northern France where he found inspiration in the idyllic views there where he would explore tonalist Impressionism and a vibrant palette. Thaulow is one of the most underrated of Impressionist painters in his distinctive sense of color and light in his water reflections. He is more naturalist than Impressionist. His paintings immerse us into his world. In Ponte Pietra, Verona above Thaulow contrasts a rustic, ancient Roman bridge made of brick and travertine with the beautiful green tones in the water. This is a view from the right which is not often depicted in photos even today, and yet this has a freshness that makes us feel like we are standing at the very spot. Thaulow's muted brushwo...

Norwegian Highlands in Sunrise, 1854 Hans Fredrik Gude was born on March 13, 1825 in Oslo (formerly Christiania), Norway. A Romanticist from the Düsseldorf school of painting , a German Romanticist school in the mid-1800's that produced an impressive array of artists painting in a very detailed yet powerfully emotional way. The landscape as an artistic genre, although very common today, was often regarded as a lower genre and something not as "serious" as the more religious, historical or portrait genres that dominated the art world for centuries. German Romanticism changed that in a relatively short period of time and attracted artists from all over the world to study at the prestigious Düsseldorf Academy . Gude's career established him as an icon of Norwegian artists and became a master of the seascape and a distinguished art professor in his later years. He often collaborated with artist Adolph Tidemand, a highly skilled portrait and figure painter on his own ri...

Blue Interior, 1883 Born on the 21 of January in 1845, Harriet Backer was a Norwegian painter known for her introspective interiors and vivid colors. Having studied in Europe with various artists and travelled with her sister Agathe, a noted pianist and composer of the time, Backer became an influential artist pioneering both an Impressionist and Natural Realism. Backer travelled extensively not only throughout Europe but studied in her native land, and in Munich and Paris. Her work is characterized by a genre style of daily life infused with light and color not often seen, especially in her often thick brushwork which is sometimes reminiscent of her Swedish contemporary Anders Zorn, born twenty years after her. Despite not painting portraits or nudes, Backer's allure is in being able to articulate simplicity in a way that draws the viewer in, always experimenting with her brushstrokes and tonality...a poet of the people. In Blue Interior above, we can clearly see how Backer...