Fjord Landscape 1901

Kitty Lange Kielland made this painting of a Fjord Landscape, and straight away, I’m thinking about the painter standing en plein air, wrestling with the elements. The sky, in various shades of gray, suggests a heavy atmosphere. You can almost feel the dampness in the air. What I love about this painting is how Kielland uses the brush to build a sense of place. There’s a freedom in her touch, particularly in the foliage to the left, with dashes of ochre. They vibrate against the blues of the water. The brushstrokes are loose, but deliberate, capturing the essence of the scene without getting bogged down in detail. You can sense the artist trying to capture something fleeting – the way the light hits the water, the stillness of the air before the weather turns. It reminds me of other painters who were working at the time, like Corot, trying to capture that sense of light and atmosphere. It’s like they’re all having this ongoing conversation across time.