Solspeil, Hvaler 1890

'Solspiegel, Hvaler' by Amaldus Nielsen, was painted in 1890 with oil on canvas. The materiality of oil paint is crucial here. The way the pigment is suspended in oil, which has a slow drying time, allows for a great deal of blending, layering and manipulation of color, creating depth and atmosphere. It's a relatively industrial product, available commercially in the 19th century. In 'Solspiegel, Hvaler', Nielsen utilizes the fluidity of the material to capture the transient effects of sunlight on water, using short brushstrokes to convey the ripples on the water’s surface. It would have been a relatively fast painting to execute, but the effect is slow and meditative. The labor involved is not one of great, painstaking detail, but one of perceptive observation and skillful translation of a moment in time. The magic of this painting lies in the way it draws your eye into the scene, engaging you with the material reality of the world. It challenges our assumptions about what makes something worthy of our attention.