Night Ploughing

In a letter to Per Kramer (1872–1946), where Astrup is recalling and discussing the woodcut Night Ploughing, he also add a note regarding a version in oil:  

“As I recall in relation to this ‘night ploughing’, I painted a small picture […] the picture included ‘much more’ – water, some small cabins, a fence in the foreground, even a ‘wedge’ of greylag geese in the sky, – lit by the dawning day it sailed across a dark cloud, which was sinking over the light, reddish morning clouds […] The picture had a touch of Henri Rousseau about it.”

This is the only description of the painting, and it must be viewed in the context of the woodcut of the same name. The subject is a murky landscape in three sections, with marsh marigolds and trees in the foreground on the right, a field with a ploughman and a horse in the middle ground and a mountain with patches of snow in the background. The composition is clean, with a simple but effective colour palette comprising brown, yellow and blueish tones.

The quote comes from the book by Jan Askeland (1926–2000) from 1956, about Astrup’s printmaking. Askeland refers to an undated letter from Astrup to his close friend Per Kramer, who was also an important collector of Astrup’s art. The letter has not been located, and Astrup’s words are the only available source for this painting.