Hans Dahl (Norwegian painter) 1849 - 1937
Hans Dahl, like many artists of his generation, was attracted in his youth to the fine detail of the Düsseldorf School which included both Oswald and Andreas Achenbach and Dahl’s fellow Norwegian Hans Frederik Gude. Many famous American artists were also attracted to and studied in Düsseldorf, including George Caleb Bingham, Eastman Johnson, Worthington Whittredge and the émigré Emanuel Leutze. Dahl routinely returned to Norway in the summers to paint his favorite subjects along the fjords, even while studying in Düsseldorf and after setting up permanent residence in Berlin. In 1893, he finally built a house in Balestrand in Norway close to the artist Adelsteen Normann, equally known for his fine depictions of the scope and grandeur of the deep valleys formed by these long fingers of water. He was honored in 1910 by the German Emperor with a professorship in recognition of his many achievements and for the esteem that he was held by many collectors. His vibrant depictions of the Norwegian light and her national costumes reflect strong feelings of Norwegian sovereignty which were only fully resolved in 1905 with Norway’s formal split with Sweden that had lasted since 1814. * * * Hans Andreas Dahl (Norwegian painter) 1881 - 1919 As a son and pupil of Hans Dahl , he grew up in Dusseldorf and from 1888 in Berlin , but spent the summers in Balestrand in the Norwegian Fylke Sogn og Fjordane . In 1910 he had his own studio built opposite his father's villa. During the war he moved in the winter to Christiania near the sanatorium Voksenkollen. When the sanatorium went up in flames in 1919 and he wanted to help with the rescue, he contracted pneumonia, where he died. Dahl was married since 1908 with the Englishwoman Lorna Bellew. With her he had two sons, one of whom fell and one went to England. His widow married Walter Normann, the son of the Norwegian landscape painter Adelsteen Normann . He had no teacher other than his father throughout his life. He painted mainly fjord landscapes, which are difficult to distinguish from those of his father and are often falsely spent as his. Nevertheless, he seems to have been very, perhaps better, talented than his father, as he even claimed after the death of Hans Andreas. He just lacked the chance to develop independently. Of particular charm are his small landscape sketches, of which a number can still be seen in Balestrand. Worth mentioning are also his good portraits.
