Entrance to the Port of Copenhagen 1830

Johan Christian Dahl painted this view of Copenhagen harbor with oil on canvas in the early 19th century. The way the paint is handled here is quite restrained, almost photographic. Dahl was interested in the effects of light and atmosphere, and how these interacted with the built environment. But the canvas itself is also a kind of built environment. Made from flax, processed and woven, it then receives layer upon layer of ground pigments. Each of those pigments had to be located, mined, and then carefully milled and combined with oil. We tend to think of painting as a high art, but the production of this image relied on many different forms of labor. From the sailors plying the ship into port, to the person who wove the canvas, and the person who ground the pigment, we see that painting is deeply connected to a complex world of work. By focusing on these aspects, we see beyond conventional aesthetic categories.