Rainbows and Storm

There are no known descriptions or photographs of this painting, but Astrup’s title indicates that it is a landscape painting depicting a storm with a double rainbow.

The painting “Rainbows and Storm” was on sale at Astrup’s exhibition at Kunstnerforbundet (artists’ association) in Kristiania (Oslo) in 1911. As it was not sold, it was returned to the artist in Jølster.

As the title indicates, the subject is a double rainbow, which could make it a match with the painting Rainbow (K111). The orientation is upright with two centrally located rainbows, and it shows the view from the parsonage garden at Ålhus across Lake Jølstravatnet. By the rainbow, the heavy rain shower is lit up by the Sun’s rays. Rainbow is signed with the date 1912, which complicates this match. Astrup rarely dated his paintings, but in so far as he did, he often used the year when he had experienced the moment of inspiration. It is therefore unclear whether Astrup made changes to the original painting the following year, or if we are here dealing with two separate paintings.

The history of “Rainbows and Storm” after 1911 is therefore unknown, but it can be added that Rainbow was in the possession of the Astrup family until the memorial exhibitions in Bergen and Kristiania (Oslo) in 1928.