Evening landscape, 1890

Painted by the Norwegian artist Kitty Kielland (1843-1914), the work (Aftenlandskap, fra Stokkavannet ) depicts the Stokkavannet lake in Stavanger just after sunset. It was one of the first gifts to the new King and Queen on their arrival in Norway in 1905, and was hung in Queen Maud’s Salon at the Royal Palace. The motif is typical of the scenery in southern Norway, where the artist grew up.

Background

The painting was given to Queen Maud on the occasion of her first birthday in Norway, on 26 November 1905, and to honour her arrival the previous day. Women’s associations all over the country had collected funds to purchase works of art and silver objects befitting a palace. An engraved plaque on the picture frame reads: “To the Queen of Norway from the Ladies of Elverum, 26 November 1905”.

The artist

In the summer of 1886 Kitty Kielland joined a gathering of artists at Fleskum farm in Bærum, near Oslo. Other well-known artists present were Christian Skredsvig, Erik Werenskiold, Eilif Peterssen, Gerhard Munthe and Harriet Backer. The summer at Fleskum marked the start of a new chapter in Norwegian art history, and the works that emerged had a strong influence on the country’s artistic community. The “Fleskum painters” abandoned the ideals of realism and focused instead on painting en plein air and evoking nature’s many different moods.

Detailed water landscapes predominate in Kielland’s works from that summer, and Evening Landscape at Stokkavannet is considered a masterpiece in its genre. Although Kielland was criticised by her contemporaries for her sombre, melancholic paintings, Evening Landscape realistically captures the effects of the changing evening light on the landscape.
 

Materials
Oil on canvas

Measurements
115 x 120 cm

Signature
Lower right corner: Kitty L. Lange 1890

Inventory number
DKS. 001128