Langs åen i de store enge 1898

Viggo Pedersen painted 'Langs åen i de store enge' using oil on canvas, with the original residing here at the SMK. The structure of this landscape hinges on its horizontality. Pedersen has stratified the composition, with the winding river in the foreground giving way to open fields and a distant horizon line, capped by a broad expanse of sky. The artist creates a sense of depth through a careful recession of tones and textures, but it also creates a tension. While the eye is led into the landscape, the limited tonal range and subdued palette pushes back, asserting the flatness of the painted surface. Pedersen is inviting us to consider landscape painting not just as a window onto the world, but as an artifice. This is especially so, because of the way in which Pedersen has handled the surface, creating a network of brushstrokes that emphasize the painting’s materiality.