Dr Fridtjof Nansen, one of the most famous Norwegians of his time, was Rector of St Andrews from 1925-28. His international renown stemmed from his achievements as an Arctic explorer, humanitarian, politician, and scientist. But, at home, he was the “centre of gravity” of the Lysaker Circle art group.[1] This summer I was given the opportunity to travel to Polhøgda, Nansen’s house in Lysaker, Oslo (built 1900-1901) that is currently cared for by the Fridtjof Nansen Institutt, a group that focused on environmental research. I found that this house was intricately connected to the Lysaker group’s artistic and political vision.
Nansen designed the house with the architect Hjalmar Welhaven. The floorplan of the house is representative of Nansen’s international role, since it was heavily inspired by Lawnhurst Castle in Manchester. The interior decorations, some designed by famed Norwegian artist Erik Werenskiold, are, on the other hand, illustrative of the aims and approaches of the Lysaker Circle. This group emerged in the 1890s, during the period of Swedish rule of Norway, and therefore aimed to create a national style. Its artists were inspired by folk art: themes of nature, the Norwegian, the moral, and the peasant linked their artistic and political aims. Nansen, who lived at the heart of the colony, was the group’s patron.
There was a propagandistic element to the art created by the Lysaker Circle. They positioned their art as proof that Norwegians had an innate connection to the land of Norway, one that superseded the Swedish political claim. These artists synthesised their international training with national subjects, specifically focusing on natural motifs and experimenting with ornamentation over fine art.
Polhøgda was essential to Nansen’s identity as national icon and international representative to the League of Nations. Despite the Lysaker Circle’s focus on Norwegian tradition, Nansen gave his house the floorplan of an English castle.[2] Other non-Norwegian elements are the open living room (Figure 1.), single tower, and use of brick in the façade, which contrasts with the carved wooden dragestil (dragon style) often used for other villas in Lysaker (including Nansen’s first house, Godthåb). Ultimately, his choice of architecture echoed the international concerns that characterised his later life.
Polhøgda’s interior demonstrates the Lysaker ethos of drawing inspiration from the natural world and looking to folk art as the source of a “pure” Norwegian style, although obviously this was mediated by the artists’ international training.[3] Werenskiold’s mural painting of the folk tale ‘Liti Kjersti’ in the dining room is representative of this (Figure 2).[4] His frieze makes use of natural scenes, but is characterised by a self-consciously naïve lack of depth and saturated colours that show his debt to folk art.
The Lysaker Circle was defined by its focus on decoration, something art historian Nils Messel calls “Norway’s truest form of national expression.”[5] This is reflected in the wallpapers Werenskiold hand-painted for Polhøgda. The saturated colours of tomato red with a pattern of yellow and green flowers make the secretary’s room feel cheerful and nostalgic, referring to a bright past (Figure 3). This simple natural motif is representative of the Lysaker Circle’s philosophy of taking vernacular elements and transforming them for modern domestic life. By absorbing this artistic patriotism into the everyday, they were not just signalling their nationality but also believed it would make them better people. Andreas Aubert, the leading art theorist of the Lysaker Circle, highlighted the “good moral character” of traditional Norwegian art.[6] For members of the colony, the peasant connoted the humble, the hardworking, and the pure. Lysaker artists, especially Werenskiold,[7] believed that the role of art was to highlight a Norwegian identity as an inherently moral characteristic.
Ultimately, Nansen’s Norwegian home was representative of the Lysaker artists’ aim of using folk art as inspiration for a national style. This included the focus on natural motifs as well as a moralising element that linked the peasantry with the idea of being a true Norwegian. Yet, unlike other members of the Lysaker Circle, Nansen did not attempt to conceal his international influences. Rather, his role as patriotic Norwegian was foundational to his international work.
Blog written by Stella McVey, University of St Andrews student and Laidlaw Research Scholar.
[1] Nils Messel, “From Realistic Portrayals to Decorative Form: The Lysaker Circle and ‘Norwegian’ Tradition,” trans. Rosie Hedger, Art in Translation 9 vol. 4 (2017) doi:10.1080/17561310.2017.1382087.
[2] Ivar M. Liseter, Polhøgda: From the Home of Fridtjof Nansen to the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (Lysaker: The Fridtjof Nansen Institutt, 2017), 3.
[3] Janne Gallen-Kallela-Sirén, “Territorialising Nature,” in A Mirror of Nature: Nordic Landscape Painting 1840-1910, ed. Leena Ahtola-Moorhouse, Frode Ernst Haverkamp, and Torsten Gunnarson (Copenhagen: Statens Museum for Kunst, 2006), 219.
[4] Patricia G. Berman, “Norwegian Craft Theory and National Revival in the 1890s,” in Art and the national dream; the search for vernacular expression in turn-of-the-century design, ed. Nicola Gordon Bowe (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1992), 163.
[5] Messel, “From Realistic Portrayals.”
[6] Messel, “From Realistic Portrayals.”
[7] Magne Malmanger, “Painting,” in The Art of Norway, 1750-1914 (Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1978), 97.