The sunshine painter, Hans Dahl
Every summer we offer unique experiences in exhibitions with paintings of the highest quality. These have been collected for our large audience, and chosen with love and joy. Nowhere do you get as close to good art as here.
Based on the history of the Cobalt Works, which attracted promising young artists in the 1880s, we have for a long time shown Norwegian and Nordic art from the Golden Age.
Sommeren 2025 viser vi den største utstillingen noensinne av Hans Dahl (1849-1937). Dahl var født i Hardanger, men levde et langt kunstnerliv i Düsseldorf og Berlin, der han dyrket det vestnorske landskapets strålende prakt.

Hans kunst har for et internasjonalt publikum bidratt til å forme bildet av de høyreiste norske fjell og blinkende fjorder, som danner rammen omkring vennlige menneskers daglige gjøremål.
Leading artists such as Erik Werenskiold, Frits Thaulow and Christian Krohg also played a significant role as active citizens and ensured that living conditions gradually became livable for visual artists in Norway. The ground was prepared for what we have for more than 100 years called "Artists of the Golden Age" - among these names, in addition to the already mentioned Krohg, Werenskiold and Thaulow, we also find Munthe, Backer, Kielland, Kittelsen, Skredsvig, Peterssen etc. These dominate the major museums, are duly mentioned in any overview of Norwegian art history and achieve the highest prices at art auctions.
But what about the painters who chose to live abroad, who exhibited and were awarded prizes at the most prestigious exhibitions and regularly delivered their motifs to an ardent audience spread all over the world? In any case, they won no place within Norwegian art history. On the other hand, they have a solid place within what we can call the second history of art.
Hans uafladelige repeterende storleende eller storsmilende kåde bondetøser har intet med Norge eller med kunst at gjøre.
JENS THIIS, direktør ved Nasjonalgalleriet 1908–1941, om Hans Dahl
For Dahl, Norway was a country from which he lived for large parts of his life at a distance, and although frequent visits to his homeland constantly refreshed his memory of the country, his most famous motifs primarily present an idea of Norway, rather than realistic depictions of the same.
The Norwegian motif never left his art, and he strongly asserted its importance. One should "pour from the rich, domestic spring", rather than to "imitate the weak in another's art", said Dahl.
The question of Norwegianness in art was probably an important topic in an artistic climate where national identity and independence were of great importance. Not only in young Norway, but also in other nations, the search for the uniqueness of national identity was of great importance throughout the 19th century.

Hans Dahl's pictures were created in a time characterized by major societal changes. The predictable life that had been lived since time immemorial was replaced by a more modern life, with many choices and few safety nets.
With an artist like Christian Krohg, this was expressed through his interest and concern for the fate of young girls in the big city, as we see in the Albertine pictures, Edvard Munch dealt with the anxiety-filled existence of the big city, as in Evening on Karl Johan, while Theodor Kittelsen took the audience into a the pictorial world where nature still contained the figures of folk fantasy.
For Hans Dahl, a swarm around life became as it perhaps never was, but should be his preferred circle of motifs. He himself stated quite simply the purpose of his paintings: "I want all people to be happy and look happy." In countless variations, he painted motifs with people living in harmony with nature and themselves throughout a long artistic career.
There is a rare lifeblood that flows through Hans Dahl's paintings, created with a twinkle in his eye. This is the time to rediscover art to enjoy.
Utstillingen «Solskinnsmaleren Hans Dahl» vises på Blaafarveværket 24. mai – 5. oktober 2025.
Skrevet av kurator Sverre Følstad