Interior with Cradle

Nikolai Astrup (1880-1928) was born in Bremanger in Nordfjord but grew up in Jølster, where he lived most of his life, interrupted only by studies in Kristiania and Paris among other places.

It was in his native village that he found motifs for the majority of his pictures; he concentrated in particular on the characteristic, lush nature of Western Norway and the tradition-bound life of the local people. Yet intimate and private themes were also subject to artistic treatment, and he occasionally used his wife Engel and their children as models in his pictures. He rarely painted interiors, however, so the painting Interior, Jølster Vicarage is in this sense rather atypical of Astrup’s production.

OWG