Fra Gjervoldstad, Mandal 1875

Amaldus Nielsen painted this landscape, Fra Gjervoldstad, Mandal, using oil on canvas. We immediately get a sense of the materiality of the artist’s chosen medium. The painting's texture is built up through layers of brushstrokes. Notice how the artist applied thicker paint to render the rough surfaces of the landscape. The strokes of the brush are visible on the canvas, as is the smooth blending of paint. Consider how the artist has used thin washes of color for the sky, and thicker impasto techniques in the foreground and background to create depth, and achieve tonal variation. The subject also suggests a social context. The painting's rural setting and modest architecture evoke a sense of everyday life, and invites reflection on the relationship between land, labor, and community. We can imagine the workers who labored in this landscape, and the ways in which their lives were intertwined with the natural world. By focusing on materials, processes, and social context, we see that this painting offers insight into the world in which it was created.