Astrum’s recurring theme is the picnic bonfires lighted on Midsummer’s Eve, June 23, marking the summer solstice. Though it’s a pagan holdover, Christians celebrate the evening honoring St. John the Baptist’s birthday on June 24. In deeply Lutheran Norway, the evening is festive, something Astrup is fond of and makes evident in all of his paintings. Though the solstice celebration has been Christianized, Astrup omits any Christian references. For him, the holiday is an opportunity for night picnicking and the anticipation of the long days of summer. Painting these scenes must have given him great joy.
St. John’s Eve Bonfire at Jølstravatn), Hansbål ved Jølstervatnet, (1909)
*Midsummer is a popular theme, including Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night DreamFelix Mendelssohn’s Overture to Midsummer’s Night Dream, Modest Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Ingmar Berman’s Smiles of a Summer Night, Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, and Michael Tippet’s The Midsummer Marriage, Woody Allen’s Midsummer’s Night Sex Comedy. And, of course, Walt Disney’s version of Night on Bald Mountain in Fantasia.
Featured Image: Preparations for the Midsummer Eve Bonfire (1908)
See https://kodebergen.no/en/exhibitions/nikolai-astrup-collectio. These are picnics without food or drinks.