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Lot Essay
Balke's landscapes draw their inspiration from the scenery of northern Norway. This he first experienced on a visit to Finnmark in 1832. This journey is of central importance to his artistic development. The landscape motifs he recorded at the time are recurrent themes in his later work. His paintings are infused with magical light inspired by his experience of the midnight sun. The power and dramatic quality of his compositions reflect his first-hand experience of extreme weather conditions which he described as '...an impression that did not merely overwhelm me in the violence of the moment but was to exert a decisive influence on my entire later life... for in these northerly parts it is the beauties of nature that play the central role whereas nature's living children, human beings, merely occupy a position subordinate to them ('...ein Eindruck, der sich nicht nur im Rausch des Augenblicks meiner bemächtige, sondern sogar auf mein ganzes zukünftiges Leben einen entscheidenden Einfluss hatte... denn in diesen nördlichen Gegenden sind es die Naturschönheiten, die die Hauptrolle spielen, während die lebendigen Kinder der Natur, die Menschen, ihnen gegenüber nur eine untergeordnete Stellung einnehmen: Buchhardt in 'Peder Balke. Ein Pionier der Moderne', exhib. cat., Kunsthalle Krems, 7 September 2008-15 February 2009, and Ordrupgaard Copenhagen, 5 March 2009-21 July 2009, Krems/Wien/Bonn, 2008, p. 10).
The present work is one of a group of paintings with lighthouses as their motif. It was executed after a journey to northern Norway in 1844 organized by Balke for his friend and travelling companion J.C. Dahl. On their journey the two artists would have seen the lighthouses that had been built along the coast of Norway in the early 1840s. The earliest work in the group dates from 1845 and the last from around 1855 (Marit Ingeborg Lange in Per Kvaerne and M. Malmanger (eds.), 'Un peintre norvégien au Louvre. Peder Balke (1804-1887) et son temps', Oslo, Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning, 2006, p. 38, fig. 23f). One of his most important works, the celebrated 'Lighthouse on the Coast of Norway', is one of this group and is now in the collection of the Nationalgalerie in Oslo (probably 1850s, oil on canvas mounted on wood, 58.5 x 70.5 cm, see 'Peder Balke', op. cit., n° 19). The group marks a key period in his artistic development and embodies a growing assurance in style and mastery of techniques.
In his lighthouse paintings Balke's aim is not topographical accuracy, despite his inclusion of familiar landscape subjects as background motifs. In their power and dramatic quality they have something of a metaphor about them: a ship battling against the violence of the storm-driven sea, the lighthouse an orientation symbol for men frighteningly exposed to the dangers of the elements.
The present work is one of a group of paintings with lighthouses as their motif. It was executed after a journey to northern Norway in 1844 organized by Balke for his friend and travelling companion J.C. Dahl. On their journey the two artists would have seen the lighthouses that had been built along the coast of Norway in the early 1840s. The earliest work in the group dates from 1845 and the last from around 1855 (Marit Ingeborg Lange in Per Kvaerne and M. Malmanger (eds.), 'Un peintre norvégien au Louvre. Peder Balke (1804-1887) et son temps', Oslo, Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning, 2006, p. 38, fig. 23f). One of his most important works, the celebrated 'Lighthouse on the Coast of Norway', is one of this group and is now in the collection of the Nationalgalerie in Oslo (probably 1850s, oil on canvas mounted on wood, 58.5 x 70.5 cm, see 'Peder Balke', op. cit., n° 19). The group marks a key period in his artistic development and embodies a growing assurance in style and mastery of techniques.
In his lighthouse paintings Balke's aim is not topographical accuracy, despite his inclusion of familiar landscape subjects as background motifs. In their power and dramatic quality they have something of a metaphor about them: a ship battling against the violence of the storm-driven sea, the lighthouse an orientation symbol for men frighteningly exposed to the dangers of the elements.