Adelsteen Normann

Adelsteen Normann painted the Norwegian fjords the way most of Europe came to imagine them: deep blue water, steep green mountainsides, small red houses and boats at the shoreline, all under clear northern light.

Born in Bodin in northern Norway, he trained at the Düsseldorf Academy under Eugen Dücker from 1869 to 1872 and later settled in Berlin, where he became a well known figure in the art world. It was Normann who invited Edvard Munch to exhibit in Berlin in 1892. He won an honourable mention at the Paris Salon in 1884 and a bronze medal in 1889, and his paintings did a great deal to bring tourists to western Norway. His work is held in museums in Bergen, Boston, Dresden, Liverpool and Stockholm.

Pictures such as Boats in a Fjord show his crisp detail and bright colour.