Konrad Mägi Norwegian Landscape

For many years since World War II this painting was not in Estonia but in Sweden, in the collection of the art historian Ervin Pütsep, from where it returned to Estonia in 2024. 

Characteristically of Mägi, the painting does not bear a date or a title. It is highly probable that he made it in Norway: dense brushwork, a Norwegian gate motif, intense masses of clouds and shades of violet are suggestive of that. Although Mägi used a similarly dense brushwork during his Saaremaa period, the rendition of the sky and the choice of colour had changed by the time he started working on Vilsandi and in Kihelkonna. The manner in which the brushstrokes are placed side by side is also characteristic of his Norwegian period, whereas in Saaremaa his similarly short brushstrokes were more randomly applied.

It is possible the painting was completed in the first half of his stay in Norway: the period was characterised by the use of paper as base material and a peculiar manner of applying paint to the surface of the picture. There is a spirit of restless searching in his first Norwegian paintings, but as he gained more practice, he also became more skilful, which can be seen in his large-scale well-composed paintings created some time later.

The most significant events in this painting are, first of all, the pointillistic flower field placed in the foreground quite demonstratively, and, secondly, the drama happening in the blue sky densely covered in clouds, hinting at an inner restlessness which could, in turn, refer to Konrad Mägi’s restless first months in Norway, roaming about penniless and homeless.