Johan Christian Dahl

Thorvald Erichsen (1868-1939; Norwegian Post-Impressionist painter)
Henrik Sørensen, Oslo (1882 - 1962, Norwegian painter and pupil of Matisse, known for his murals in Oslo's Rådhus and in the UN library in Geneva; by descent from the above)
A gift from the son of the above to the present owner

Oil on paper laid on board. The board is flat, even, and ensuring a stable support. Ultra-violet light reveals some areas of residual varnish which has darkened the painting surface. Hence, the signature is only partially visible to the naked eye. However, it is fully visible in an infrared photography which can be provided upon request (please contact the department). There is no visible sign of retouching. This work is in good original condition and ready to hang. Presented in a decorative gilt frame. The colours are slightly less red in reality than in the catalogue illustration.
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Although by 1832 Dahl was making regular painting trips to his native Norway, the subject of this evocative nocturne is likely to be of the environs of Dresden where he had settled in 1818 and was still living. The Romantic moonlight scene with silhouette effects is immediately reminiscent of Friedrich, (fig. 1), and indeed the two men enjoyed a close friendship.

Dahl had had an introduction to Friedrich from Friedrich's friend Johann Jakob Rühle von Lilienstern in Berlin even before he arrived in Dresden from Copenhagen. Friedrich was friendly towards the newcomer, fourteen years his junior, from the outset; they exhibited together, became godfathers to each other's children and, in 1824, the two families moved into the same house together. A year later, Dahl and Friedrich were named 'extraordinary professors' at the Academy who had no chair but who received a regular salary.

And yet, as Marie Bang points out, while both artists were united in their contemplation of nature, there were as many differences between their artistic approaches as there were similarities, stemming from two very different temperaments. Friedrich was the idealist, driven by his religious faith, while Dahl was more the naturalist. While Friedrich's highly finished works were the result of long meditation and painstakingly applied glazes, Dahl would paint straight on to canvas, Friedrich's medievalism substituted for a more factual rendering of the landscape.