Springtime Evening in a Mountain Village

There are no known descriptions or photographs of this painting, but Astrup’s title indicates that it is a landscape painting depicting Jølster in springtime.

The painting was bought by the Bergens kunstforening art society on 13 January 1911 for 400 kroner, as a prize for the society’s raffle that year. Before being raffled, it was displayed in Astrup’s exhibition at Kunstnerforbundet (artists’ association) in Kristiania (Oslo). The raffle took place in December 1911, and the painting – titled “Early Springtime”, and one of the most expensive prizes – was won by member number 668, Jens Andreas Berg Lampe (1888–1956). Lampe was a chemist who ran the family textile dyeing business at Sparebankgaten 2, in central Bergen. That address was also where the family lived. The street was not affected by the city fire of 1916, but the painting’s history after 1911 is unknown.