One of the most important means of expression in art is light. It builds a mood, gives a show of depth and enlivens the composition. Light is an important element of a finished work of art, but it is also an inseparable companion of the artist during its creation. When it comes to the nature painting of India, then you can surely have to know about the Scandinavian Artists.  

The Researchers and More

The researchers of Scandinavian art noticed that the most important features characterizing the work of artists from the north is a strong relationship with nature, as well as the original treatment of light. The title of their publications, such as Neil Kent’s The Triumph of Light and Nature (1992, London), in which the author presents a synthetic approach to the art of five northern countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland), refers to this. 

• However, to be included in the title of light and nature in an arbitrary way; like the anthology of Scandinavian artists by Kirk Varnedoe “Northern Light” (1988, London), it mainly deals with the innovation and interests of Scandinavian artists than highlights the problem of light as a means of expression. Association of Scandinavian art with the light is also supported by exhibitions organized so far: “Northern Light” (exhibition in New York, 1982), “Dreams of Summer Night” (1986-7, exhibitions in France, Germany and Great Britain), “Luminous Modernism” (2012, exhibition in New York).

The geographical location of the Scandinavian peninsula and Iceland is associated with a different angle of sunlight and, hence, its quality. Additionally, along with the increase in the geographical latitude, the occurrence of phenomena such as: short nights and so-called northern sun (“midnight sun”) in the summer and short winter days, often without sunlight, as well as polar lights. The awareness of the originality of light conditions combined with the wild landscape was the popularity of the landscape among Scandinavian painters.

Michael Jones, a British geographer, researcher of the Scandinavian landscape at the Technical University of Trondheim, coined the term “seasonality” an important feature of the Nordic landscape, understood, among other things, as paying special attention to unusual atmospheric phenomena, but also regular nature rhythms characterizing a given geographical space. Using his systematics of “seasonality” approaches into three aspects: 

1) the simple presentation of geographical phenomena (natural geographical phenomena)

2) their relationship with people (human-geographical responses) and 

3) their nationalist / political meaning ( expression of identity ) 

We will interpret selected works of Scandinavian landscape painting of the nineteenth century on these three levels, paying special attention to the role of other light” both as a painting effect and its symbolic function – in delineating” another way to modernity ” by Scandinavian artists, focusing on Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland.

En plain-air, or towards realism (and even more)

The tradition of the Scandinavian landscape begins at the end of the 18th century and its cradle is Denmark. The Danish Royal Academy, founded in 1754 by Fryderyk V Oldenburg, was not only the first real painting academy in the Scandinavian countries, but also very progressive and in close contact with its counterparts on the continent alma mater for representatives of the so-called Golden Age, Danish art from the first half of the 19th century.