The Soil Becomes Warmer
undefined undefined undefined, 1903 - 1903, 650 x 718 mm
Lillehammer kunstmuseum, Einar Lundes samling
A woman wearing a red dress and dark cap carries a heavy cauldron full of glowing coals through a landscape. She enters from the left and walks towards the river, which runs between large and small stones on a steep slope. The format is dominated by the rural landscape and the sky lies like a narrow rim along the upper edge of the picture. This accentuates the steep incline of the slope. The naked trees and the fields that range from yellow and brown to green, indicate that the motif is a spring landscape.
In Astrup’s personal list of works from 1927, he made it known that he had executed two painted versions of this motif. While The Soil Becomes Warmer is listed as a sketch, the artist considered the other version, Landscape – which is unknown as of today – to be the completed work.
1903-1908:
Nikolai Astrup
(1880-1928)
1908-1921:
Einar Lunde
(1875-1951)
1921-1994:
Lillehammer bys malerisamling
1921-current:
Einar Lundes samling
1994-current:
Lillehammer kunstmuseum
Kunstnernes Hus. Nikolai Astrup. Malerier og tresnitt. Oslo: Kunstnernes Hus, 1955.
Bergens kunstforening. Katalog over Nikolai Astrups Maleriutstilling. Bergen: Bergens kunstforening, 1908.
Charlottenborg. Den norske kunstudstilling . København: Charlottenborg, 1915.
Kunstnerforbundet. Kunstnerforbundet gjennom 20 år. Oslo: Kunstnerforbundet, 1931.
Loge, Øystein. Betrothed to Nature. Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 2010.
Bergens Kunstforening. Nikolai Astrup 1880–1928. Mindeutstilling. Bergen: Bergens kunstforening, 1928.
The motif of the old woman with a cauldron full of glowing coals also exists as a pen drawing from Astrup’s hand. This drawing is a key to understanding the story the painting conveys. The pen drawing entitled “Huldra in Jølst” was used to illustrate the book Svanøen i Søndfjord (Svanøen in Søndfjord) (1912). The Illustration accompanied three short stories, and it stated there that they were originally told by Anders Aalhus, but that Astrup had translated them into the Jølster dialect for the book. The story of the huldra (a seductive woodland creature in Scandinavian folklore) tells of a woman who appears when the winter drags on too long. She walks along the river with her cauldron, depositing glowing coals into the frozen river to melt the ice.
The Soil Becomes Warmer was shown for the first time in the artist’s solo exhibition in Bergen Art Society in 1908, with the title “A Jølster Tale of the Spring Night”. The painting was for sale for Kr. 70, but when no one bought it, it was sent to a group exhibition of Norwegian artists in Hamar the same year. It was here Einar Lunde most likely bought the painting, and he later donated it to the city of Lillehammer. Today the painting is included in the collection of Lillehammer Art Museum.