Visionary Seminar

VISIONARY ROMANTICS

Peder Balke | Eugenio Lucas | Lars Hertervig

 


Seminar


Stavanger Art Museum, 29 September 2023, 10:00–14:30

in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Visionary Romantics’

 

Organized by Stavanger Art Museum / MUST, Nordic Institute of Art (NIA),

Museo Lázaro Galdiano and Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica (CEEH)

 

In collaboration with the Embassy of Spain in Norway, and with support

from Laerdal Medical, The Savings Bank Foundation DNB and The Bergesen Foundation

 

All talks will be held in English

 


About the project

 

The exhibition Visionary Romantics presents the works of the Norwegian painters Lars Hertervig (1830–1902) and Peder Balke (1804–1887), alongside those of the Spanish artist Eugenio Lucas Velázquez (1817–1870). It includes more than 60 works altogether; paintings, water-colours and drawings, from the collections of Museo Lázaro Galdiano, Stavanger Art Museum, The Gundersen Collection (Oslo) and the Savings Bank Foundation DNB (Oslo).

 

The different speakers of the event will present aspects of the individual artists, and will also look at their background in the Romantic movement in Europe as well other relevant contexts. The seminar will – alongside the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue – in particular explore how Lucas, Hertervig and Balke can be seen as visionary artists, concentrating on a landscape of the mind, and further how these artists applied experimental or unusual techniques to achieve their effects. This loose and experimental way of painting – sometimes seen as a predecessor of Impressionism and Abstract art – is a phenomenon found in the works of selected 19th century painters associated with Romantic landscape painting. In addition to Lucas, Hertervig and Balke, we could also mention artists such as Caspar David Friedrich, J.M.W. Turner and Victor Hugo. By juxtaposing the works of the Norwegian and Spanish artists, the project aims at exploring this as a transnational phenomenon, representing new understanding of a particular, somewhat overlooked, aspect of art history. In addition, it introduces two central Norwegian Romantic artists to a Spanish audience, and one important Spanish painter to Scandinavia.

 

The exhibition is organized by the two museums jointly with CEEH and NIA. It is initiated and curated by Knut Ljøgodt and Carlos Sánchez Díez, with contributions by Inger M.L. Gudmundson.

 

A publication in two editions (Spanish and English) is brought out by CEEH in association with the museums and NIA, and includes essays by Begoña Torres Gómez, Knut Ljøgodt, Carlos Sánchez Díez, Hanne Beate Ueland and Inger M.L. Gudmundson.

 

 

 

PROGRAM

 

9:30: Doors open. Coffee

10:00: Seminar begins

 

Session 1: Visionary Romantics

Moderator: Dr José Luis Colomer, Director, CEEH – Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica

 

Welcome

Introduction

Cand.Philol. Hanne Beate Ueland, Director, Stavanger Art Museum / MUST

 

Key Note Lecture:

What we could learn about the North and Romanticism by looking at the Object Biographies of Caspar David Friedrich's Works

Professor Kilian Heck, Caspar David Friedrich Institute, University of Greifswald

 

Visionary Romantics: Balke, Lucas, Hertervig and the Others

Dr Knut Ljøgodt, Director, NIA – Nordic Institute of Art

 

Eugenio Lucas Velázquez: From Goyaesque to Visionary Landscape

Lic. Carlos Sánchez Díez, Chief Curator, Museo Lázaro Galdiano

 

Q&A. Summing Up

 

12 noon: Lunch break

 

13:00: Seminar reconvenes

 

Session 2: Lars Hertervig in Focus

Moderator: Dr Knut Ljøgodt, Director, NIA – Nordic Institute of Art

 

Inner Light and Religion in Lars Hertervig's Late Art

Mag. Art. Holger Koefoed (Norway)

 

Lars Hertervig and Richard Dadd: Parallel Lives

Dr Nicholas Tromans (UK)

 

Q&A. Summing Up

Conclusive Remarks

 

Ca. 14:30: End of seminar

 

18:00: Official opening of Visionary Romantics exhibition