This early 20th-century oil painting by Norwegian artist Fredrik Borgen (1852-1907) depicts a river view with grazing cattle. Borgen was a skilled painter of naturalistic landscapes who exhibited extensively, including at the Autumn Exhibition in Oslo and the Exposition Universelle in Paris.
A river snakes through pasture towards a distant hill, which is a veritable patchwork of tones. Dense clouds above reflect in the silvery waterway, with flickers of white light further on. There’s a rhythmical effect to the brushwork and a certain poetry to the elements.
Borgen was raised on a farm amid the rural environs of Ullensaker in Norway and was evidently blessed with a natural talent for drawing. Like so many landscape artists, he was furnished with ample inspiration in the form of nature itself.
When into his late teens, a charitable employer spotted his ability and sponsored him to undertake formal artistic training. As a result, he enrolled at Johan Fredrik Eckersberg's (1822-1870) painting school in Oslo, one of the foremost establishments of its type in Scandinavia.
Eckersberg was a true master, famed for his depictions of soaring mountain ranges, epic lakes and fjords - each rendered with finesse and exquisite details. His grand portrayals of the homeland went further than simply describing a view, they amplified the very essence of what Norway represented. He was painting the spirit of its people, heritage, and culture, somehow conveying an ideology via the medium of oil paint.
Complex and highly polished works of this type were produced in the studio by using a combination of sketches and one’s memory. They couldn’t be rushed, with the grandest pieces taking many months, or years, to complete.
But by 1870, when Borgen studied with Eckersberg, some younger landscape painters, particularly those in Paris, were beginning to approach their work somewhat differently. Rather than focus on conveying a grand sense of national identity, they simply sought to paint what they saw when among nature itself. Working quickly amid the elements to capture the fleeting effects of light.
Borgen was a product of both ideas, on one hand, it’s apparent that he held the traditionalists in high regard, yet on the other, he was drawn to the emerging ‘plein air’ style of the French painters. In 1877, he undertook a study trip to Paris and sampled these new ideas first-hand.
As a result of this artistic amalgam, we see the best of two worlds across his oeuvre. His compositions are balanced, with the mood often elevated somewhat by enchanting light effects. But equally, they’re rarely overworked and retain their immediacy, as if produced on the spot under the ambient passing clouds.
He represented in numerous public collections including at Norway’s National Museum.
Signed in the lower left and held in a gilt frame with extensive foliate strapwork, which is probably original.
Learn more about Fredrik Borgen in our directory.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 34” x 26” / 87cm x 66cm
Year of creation: c. 1900
Provenance: Private collection, Norway.
Condition: Cleaned. Frame with various marks and showing its age.
Artist’s auction maximum: £6,045 for ‘Vinterlandskap med Gårdstune’, Oil on canvas, Grev Wedels Plass Auksjoner, Oslo, 18 December 2001 (lot 303).
Our reference: BRV2072
