The harvest painted by Anna Ancher, Lhermitte, Adrian Stokes, Nikolai Astrup, John Linnell, Félix Vallotton, PS Krøyer, Gérôme, and others.
Astrup
Three views by the elusive Elisabeth Grüttefien, and the paintings of Nikolai Astrup, the only artist among these who lived in the fjords for much of his life, and was buried there.
In narrative, including Degas’ ‘Waiting’, as a sign of wind, as an arc of colour, or simply to tell the viewer that it’s raining.
Milkmaids milking cows in the shed, a farmer threshing and winnowing grain, churning butter, and a young couple courting by the back-ends of cows.
Keeping the aspidistra flying in the homes of the respectable middle classes, in paintings from Carl Larsson to Paul Signac and Harriet Backer.
Mud during the Franco-Prussian War, in Nordic countryside, and enveloping everything including the dead during the First World War.
Soldiers on the front in the First World War, a young woman slaving as a seamstress, Dickens’ miserly Scrooge, and Polish ‘exiles’ in Siberia – those we should be thinking of this Christmas.
Paintings from the late careers of Félix Vallotton, Robert Bevan, Nikolai Astrup, George Bellows, Théo van Rysselberghe, Pierre Bonnard and Lovis Corinth.
Life in the country has its idyllic moments: a worker lying in the sun and flowers, a meal with violin music, country dancing, and courting, even among the cows.
Interior design by the wives of Carl Larsson (Sweden), LA Ring (Denmark), Nikolai Astrup (Norwegian) and others.
The Eclectic Light Company 