A r t i s t i c E x c e l l e n c e S c h o l a r s h i p C o n s e r v a t i o n I n t e g r i t y
A R T C O L L E C T I O N
About
Every Moment is a Memory
Title:
"Evening at the Entrance to Hardanger", 1871
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Artist:
Amaldus Nielsen (1838–1932)
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Type:
Oil on canvas
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Size:
46 x 73 cm
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Signed:
Lower left
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RHA I.D.#:
RHA-10/2025-182
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Provenance:
"Autumn Auction" Blomqvist Kunsthandel, Oslo 2009
Blomqvist, Oslo
October 2025 Autumn
Fine Art Collection -
Lot no. 168362-1
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The painting was restored by the Restoration Studio at the National Gallery in Oslo 1967.
Photo of the artist Amaldus Nielsen painting outdoors, c.1894
Portrait of the artist Amaldus Nielsen by Fredrik Kolstø, c.1902
“Before painting in the open was established as a principle by the naturalists, Amaldus Nielsen used to set up his easel in the fields and work with his eye upon nature to the extent permitted by his subjects; and his subjects are the bare granite knolls, the small houses of the pilots, and the capricious fjord of that southern region in which he as born. This son of a Mandal skipper has become above all others the painter of southern Norway, the so-called Southland. He knows how to portray the fjord, now lying smooth as a mirror to the leeward of sunny islands, now darkening beneath a fresh breeze from the open sea, now rolling gently in morning haze with a lofty, fair-weather sky overhead.”
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Scandinavian Art Illustrated, c.1922, Carl Laurin, Emil Hannover, and Jens Thiis, p. 481
Bjarne Halvorsen was a Norwegian visual artist born in 1896 in Haugesund, the son of Halvor Sakariassen and Henriette Sakariassen. He studied at the State School of Crafts and Art in Oslo, evening school from 1914–17 and the day school under Eivind Nielsen from 1916–17. During this time he lived in Kristiania and designed for the magazine Hvepsen. Later he moved back to Haugesund where he designed for the politlcal/satirical magazines Gneisten and Klodsmajoren.
As a painter he found his motives in the city and in the surrounding area, especially in Kvalvåg outside Haugesund where he had a country house. He also painted children, flowers and some portraits. In the oldest paintings, his background as a draftsman is clear, but gradually he came to a freer and more picturesque form. In particular, a stay in his wife Svanfrid's homeland of Iceland in the early 1930s was stimulating.
As an illustrator in satirical magazines and newspapers, he was able to criticize the policies in his own town that he disagreed with. As a visual artist, however, he brought out the many qualities that also characterizes life in a small town by the sea. Halvorsen mastered both being a social reformer and being hometown painter.
In many of the motifs we see also another side to Halvorsen, a father who adored his children and who actively took part of the two daughters' lives from when they were quite young. Children were one of his favorite subjects. He also loved nature and outdoor life, and many motifs are taken from walks in the area around the cabin in Kvalvåg.
He was Chairman of the Visual Artists' Association in Haugesund, and a member of the Vestlandsutstillingen jury 1937, and a drawing teacher at Haugesunds lærlingeskole until 1948. He participated in the West Norway exhibition several times. He made several public decorations, including in the children's room at Haugesund Hospital and in the party hall of Haugesund Handelstandsforening.
The artist is represented in these public institutions:
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National Museum in Oslo
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Bergen Picture Gallery
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Norwegian Maritime Museum
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Trøndelag Art Gallery
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Stenersen Museum
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Lillehammer City Painting Collection
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Christianssands Kunstforening Permanent Gallery
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Drammens Kunstforening Permanent Gallery
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Gothenburg Art Museum
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Oslo City Museum
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The Mandal Museum in Lindesnes Municipality
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Oslo Municipality Art Collections
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Mandal Kunstforening