Kari – Motif from Sunde

In the painting Kari – Motif from Sunde Nikolai Astrup (1880-1928) portrays the magnificent and flourishing nature of Jølster. Summer is in the air, the last snow is melting and the water from the thaw trickles down the mountainsides.

In the foreground we see the artist’s first-born daughter Kari. Wearing a white headscarf and a red summer dress, she sits in concentration as she weaves a garland of flowers out of the yellow marigolds that cover the ground.

Nikolai Astrup grew up in Jølster and with the exception of a few study tours abroad, he lived in the village for most of his life. Throughout his entire career he concentrated on the characteristic, imposing nature of his native region depicting the landscape during the changing seasons and atmospheric conditions. This particular painting Kari – Motif from Sunde is taken from the little hamlet of Sunde, the place where Astrup’s wife Engel was born.

OWG