Regnvejrsdag i granskoven 1901

Hans Julius Fæster made this print of a rainy day in a spruce forest. The tones are dark, like a heavy sky, with marks like slanting rain. It’s hard to imagine what it must have been like, out there in that forest, on that day in 1882. I wonder, did Fæster try to capture the dampness of the air and the smell of wet earth, or was he more interested in the abstract patterns of the trees and the way the light filtered through the leaves? Maybe he was thinking about other artists who had painted forests – the Barbizon school, or maybe even Caspar David Friedrich. The marks on the print are delicate and precise, like he was trying to create a sense of depth and atmosphere. It reminds me that being an artist is often about being in conversation with other artists, across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. In art, we embrace ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.