Fra Bømmelfjord 1924

Amaldus Nielsen made this oil painting called Fra Bømmelfjord, which I take to mean ‘From Bommelfjord,’ and right away I’m interested in how he translates a real place into a painted one. Look at the water, how it’s made up of these short, choppy strokes, like he’s building up the surface, not just depicting it. He’s not trying to trick us into thinking it’s real water. It’s paint first, water second. Up close, you see the individual marks, the way he layers blues and greens and even little touches of white to give it that shimmer. It’s like each stroke is a tiny wave, all working together to create this vast expanse. It’s that tension between the individual mark and the overall image that gets me going. The way he captures the light, the mood, it reminds me a bit of Whistler, that same interest in atmosphere and the way colors shift in the distance. You know, art’s just one big conversation, right?