Clouds in the Evening 1823

Johan Christian Dahl made this oil on paper sketch, titled ‘Clouds in the Evening’ in 1833. Dahl was a Norwegian artist, living in what was then a culturally vibrant, yet politically subjugated state, under Swedish rule. This sketch belongs to a tradition of ‘sky studies’ among Northern European painters, who were keen to explore the Romantic themes of nature. But the real subject here isn’t the beauty of nature. Rather, it is about the relationship between artistic institutions, national identity, and the social conditions of artistic production. Dahl became a professor at the Dresden Academy in 1824. Academies controlled artistic taste and success. So Dahl's sky studies, on the one hand, show a self-conscious awareness of academic trends. On the other, they were an important tool for the artist to represent his sense of ‘home’ while working abroad. Historians of art look to institutional archives, artist’s letters, and exhibition reviews to interpret the political meaning of art in its own time. The power of art lies in its capacity to reflect and, at times, challenge existing social norms.