The Thicket

There are no known descriptions or photographs of this painting, but Astrup’s title, Runnen, suggests that the subject may have been an area of undergrowth or a clump of trees. Astrup himself refers to the painting July Night, Fringe of the Forest (N026) as having a “similar subject” in his list in 1927.

The painting was bought for 15 Norwegian kroner by Johan Fredrik Thaulow (1840–1912) at Astrup’s solo exhibition at Blomqvist in 1905. Thaulow was a lieutenant general, and the head of the Norwegian army’s medical service and Norwegian Red Cross. He was also a physician and politician. The painting was loaned to Astrup’s exhibition at Kunstnerforbundet (artists’ association) in Oslo in 1911, the year before the general died. Its subsequent history is unknown.