THE BLUE HOUR: PAINTING THE NORTH

From late medieval times artists from the north have visited Italy in search of classical inspiration, not to mention prestige. “But why always Italy?” asks one 19th century Swedish artist, “Doesn’t our northern nature reflect eternity? Does not our gaze embrace the sky as well – and what a sky!” In Denmark, Hans Christian Andersen visits the little town of Skagen in the north of Jutland, a place of sand, storms and sky; describes it vividly and inspires artists to paint its wild and remote landscape where the North Sea meets the Baltic. Artists include a local girl, gifted Anna Ancher, whose personality and paintings are both compared by a contemporary artist to “a burst of sunshine”. In Sweden, symbolist landscape artist Prince Eugen, youngest son of King Oscar II, finds romantic inspiration in the lakes, forests, history and vivid folk art of Dalecarlia in central Sweden. Both Danish and Swedish landscape paintings feature the Blue Hour, that half hour or so just after sunset and before sunrise, when the landscape is suffused with a bluish light, highly atmospheric and iconic of the North.

Karin Fernald

Karin is known for her entertaining lectures on writers and diarists connected with the arts from the mid-18th to 19th century, and moving forward in time with Virginia Woolf. Extensive research into diaries and letters bring lectures to vivid life. Karin illustrates them with slides of contemporary pictures and portraits from varied sources.