Peder Balke (1804–1887) is one of the most original painters of 19th-century Scandinavia.
Born on the Norwegian island of Helgøya, he attended art school in Christiania (now Oslo), before studying with painters in Stockholm and Dresden. Balke was one of the very first artists to venture to the far north of his native Norway.
In 1832 he visited the distinctive, dramatic and rugged lands of the North Cape, an experience of primal nature so profound that he built his career painting those isolated Arctic Circle seascapes.
Sadly Balke’s lack of commercial success, as well as his misfortunes in social projects, forced him to abandon his career as a painter; however his later endeavours as a real-estate developer of housing for the poor, and as a politician, are fascinating and important in their own right.
Nevertheless, the small scenes he then painted for his own pleasure are now recognised as highly original improvisations: they are more experimental – with Balke using brushwork or even his hands to suggest seascapes – and extraordinarily prescient of later expressionism.
The exhibition is being curated by Christopher Riopelle, National Gallery Curator of Post-1800 Paintings, in collaboration with Knut Ljøgodt, Director of Northern Norway Art Museum, and Dr Marit Ingeborg Lange (formerly chief curator of the National Gallery of Oslo).
The National Gallery owns just one painting by Peder Balke: The Tempest (about 1862), which was generously presented to the Gallery in 2010 by Danny and Gry Katz. It was the first – and remains the only – painting by a Norwegian artist in the collection, although a major landscape by Johan Christian Dahl - The Lower Falls of the Labrofoss (1827) - was presented by Asbjørn Lunde to the American Friends of the National Gallery, 2012, by whom loaned to the National Gallery.
The exhibition will first be seen at the Northern Norway Art Museum in Tromsø (14 June – 12 October).
Director Knut Ljøgodt said ”Peder Balke has only recently been recognized as one of the most outstanding painters of the romantic period. We are thrilled that the National Gallery collaborates with us on this – and we hope that a large, international public will discover Balke’s art.
He deserves a place in the art history of the world – alongside Edvard Munch!”
For more information, www.nationalgallery.org.uk
Born on the Norwegian island of Helgøya, he attended art school in Christiania (now Oslo), before studying with painters in Stockholm and Dresden. Balke was one of the very first artists to venture to the far north of his native Norway.
In 1832 he visited the distinctive, dramatic and rugged lands of the North Cape, an experience of primal nature so profound that he built his career painting those isolated Arctic Circle seascapes.
Sadly Balke’s lack of commercial success, as well as his misfortunes in social projects, forced him to abandon his career as a painter; however his later endeavours as a real-estate developer of housing for the poor, and as a politician, are fascinating and important in their own right.
Nevertheless, the small scenes he then painted for his own pleasure are now recognised as highly original improvisations: they are more experimental – with Balke using brushwork or even his hands to suggest seascapes – and extraordinarily prescient of later expressionism.
The exhibition is being curated by Christopher Riopelle, National Gallery Curator of Post-1800 Paintings, in collaboration with Knut Ljøgodt, Director of Northern Norway Art Museum, and Dr Marit Ingeborg Lange (formerly chief curator of the National Gallery of Oslo).
The National Gallery owns just one painting by Peder Balke: The Tempest (about 1862), which was generously presented to the Gallery in 2010 by Danny and Gry Katz. It was the first – and remains the only – painting by a Norwegian artist in the collection, although a major landscape by Johan Christian Dahl - The Lower Falls of the Labrofoss (1827) - was presented by Asbjørn Lunde to the American Friends of the National Gallery, 2012, by whom loaned to the National Gallery.
The exhibition will first be seen at the Northern Norway Art Museum in Tromsø (14 June – 12 October).
Director Knut Ljøgodt said ”Peder Balke has only recently been recognized as one of the most outstanding painters of the romantic period. We are thrilled that the National Gallery collaborates with us on this – and we hope that a large, international public will discover Balke’s art.
He deserves a place in the art history of the world – alongside Edvard Munch!”
For more information, www.nationalgallery.org.uk
