“View of Jotunheimen, Hurrungene”
The art of Johannes Flintoe is so vivid. It transports you.
“View of Jotunheimen, Hurrungene” is a gouache on paper painting by the Danish Romantic artist of Norwegian descent artist, Johannes Flintoe, from 1837.
Flintoe is known for his paintings of the Norwegian countryside that helped fuel its national movement in the nineteenth century. He spent a lot of time in the mountains of Norway, making preparatory sketches on his journeys, which he turned into larger gouache paintings.
Unlike most of his other works, Flintoe based this painting off a sketch drawing by the Norwegian geologist, Baltazar Mathias Keilhau. In 1820, Keilhau took part in an expedition into the Jotunheimen mountainous region. He is credited with giving the area its name. The Jotunheimen Mountains are located in southwestern/southcentral Norway and contain the highest mountains in the country and Northern Europe. They have a magical element as well. In Norse mythology, the jötunn or jötnar, supernatural beings with special abilities and powers, reside in the Jotunheimen Mountains.
The Hurrungane Mountain range, which is depicted in this scene, is a smaller range within the greater Jotunheimen area. The Hurrungane Mountains are identifiable by their sharp peaks. The extremely steep sides of the mountains cause frequent avalanches and give credence to their name, which means “the noisemakers”.
Flintoe faithfully reproduces the shapes of the mountains from Keilhau’s drawing, with the river winding its way far below the mountain tops. He gives a clear blue sky that fades to gray at the top of the paper, enhancing the drama of the scene. Flintoe adds figures to his painting, giving scale to the view. The scene is immense.
The figures are geologists working in the field. Flintoe essentially added Keilhau to his own drawing. Three men appear to be settling in for a rest. The man to the left leans on his rifle and stares off at the view in the distance. His two companions are busy setting down their supplies, getting out a drink, and sitting down. A winding river far below in the valley is represented by a thin thread of blue.
“View of Jotunheimen, Hurrungene” is currently in the collections of the Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo, Norway.
For more on Johannes Flintoe, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
