Spring Evening, Akershus Fortress 1913

Harald Sohlberg made this painting of Akershus Fortress at spring evening, using oil on canvas to capture the subtle shift between day and night. I can imagine the artist layering thin glazes of color, letting the paint dry between each application, to create this luminous effect. The way Sohlberg handled the paint makes me think about all those tonalist painters - Whistler, for example. It’s all about mood. Look how he created a kind of atmosphere, or feeling, not just rendering objects or things! I wonder if he felt melancholic. The lone tree in the foreground is such a strong, silent presence. It makes you wonder how the artist was experiencing the natural world, looking for something that was about to pass away, or something that was about to be reborn. All painters engage in this conversation across time, like being in a giant studio with lots of other artists, all egging each other on. And maybe that's what painting is, egging oneself on, into the unknown.