Askeladdens adventure 1910

Theodor Severin Kittelsen made this painting, Askeladdens Adventure, with what looks like oil on canvas, and I reckon it was made around 1900. It’s full of characters from Norwegian folk tales trudging along this forest path! I wonder what it was like for Kittelsen, conjuring this procession of people. All the big wigs are there, but the guy at the front, the one with the logs, he’s the star of the show. I'm taken by how he's used color here, too. The way he captures light filtering through the trees with quick brushstrokes reminds me of some of the impressionists. There's something so alive about the painting. All the faces, all the details. You can see how he was inspired by traditional folk art and fairy tales. It’s like he wanted to bring those stories to life, not in a literal way, but by capturing the feeling and the energy of the stories. It's all connected, you know. We're all in conversation with each other.