River Landscape with a Waterfall near Bogstad in Norway 1789

Curator: Welcome. Here we have Erik Pauelsen's 1789 oil on canvas, "River Landscape with a Waterfall near Bogstad in Norway," part of the SMK collection. Editor: My immediate feeling is one of quiet industry, the soft golden light really lends a gentle mood, even with the rush of the waterfall. It’s as if nature and human endeavors are existing in perfect harmony. Curator: Yes, it's quite compelling. Note the evidence of human interaction – the small mill perched above the falls, the bridge in the background. It highlights the resources provided by nature in contrast with elements of labour in late 18th-century Norway. Consider also, if you will, the materiality of the raw pigment derived from minerals. Editor: Absolutely. And these carefully rendered details seem loaded with symbolic intention. Water often symbolizes the passage of time, renewal, and purification. I see this interplay very literally in the figures depicted alongside the mill: are they overseeing this natural force or at the mercy of it? There’s a sense of the sublime inherent, even on this smaller scale. Curator: Exactly! While the human intervention seems rather delicate when compared with the rough beauty, the sublime power of the natural environment and elements of technology are deeply enmeshed here. Also observe that despite being painted on canvas with oil paint, certain passages such as the sky even gives the impression of the transparency typically found in watercolour art making. Editor: It almost feels like a stage set. Even the placement of the building atop the hill in the distance serves to enhance the overall emotional tenor. The artist is less trying to capture realism than manufacture a landscape filled with implicit symbols to elevate not just our sense of nature, but humankind's place within it. Curator: Precisely, Erik Paulsen here presents the economic relationships between rural labor, landscape and nature which seems deeply intertwined and vital. It asks us, what impact have natural resources had on people of that area? How important was a site such as a waterfall to society as well as a singular landscape artist such as Erik Paulsen. Editor: The more you unpack its symbolism, the more poignant its message becomes. Curator: Indeed. We begin to see past face value. The work resonates not just visually but conceptually, providing insight into cultural and environmental impacts, now and then.