Peder Balke

Peder Balke

Peder Balke ( November 4, 1804 in Nes - February 15, 1887 in Christiania ) was a Norwegian landscape painter and socio-political activist.

From 1827 to 1829 he was a student at the Royal Drawing School in Christiania . He also worked as a decorative painter.

From 1829 to 1833 he was a student of CJ Fahlcrantz at the Art Academy in Stockholm. In the summer of 1830 he went on long walks through Norway, during which he drew numerous sketches. In April 1832 he embarked on a north country trip, on which he traveled from Trondheim to the North Cape . The trip there was marked by severe storms, which inspired him to create dramatic storm and shipwreck motifs after his trip.

In November 1835 he traveled to Germany. In 1836 he stayed for several months with the Norwegian landscape painter Johan Christian Dahl in Dresden before returning to Norway. In 1841 Balke stayed in St. Petersburg for three weeks.

In 1842 he successfully submitted a proposal to Storting in Norway to award scholarships to artists. Balke himself received a grant from the Norwegian state treasury and was able to travel to JC Dahl in Dresden again . In 1844 he returned to Norway to tour the country with JC Dahl.

From 1849–50 Balke lived with his family in London.

social commitment

Balke's artistic work was hardly appreciated during his lifetime. From the 1850s onwards, Balke devoted himself primarily to political and social issues. In 1851 he proposed to the Norwegian Storting to introduce a pension fund for workers and a widow's and disability pension. The proposals were repeated in 1869 and 1873 without success. Furthermore, Balke dealt with the water supply of the city population, the railroad traffic, as well as shipping and trade interests in Christiania.

In 1855 he bought a large piece of land north of Christiania on which he built a new district for workers. He called the district Kunstnerlund, but the name Balkeby established itself . In 1865 there were already 300 people living in Balkeby, in 1878 Balkeby was incorporated as a district of Christianias. The district as planned by Peder Balke was destroyed in a major fire in 1879. Including Peder Balke's own house. In the same year he suffered a stroke. In 1887 he died as a man in debt, whose artistic work had been forgotten during his lifetime. His paintings were not rediscovered until the middle of the 20th century.

Artistic work

Balke mainly painted nautical and artistic motifs in a choice of colors that was very reduced for the time.

Today, there are 26 sketches by Balke in the Musée du Louvre . 17 paintings are in the Norwegian National Gallery in Oslo .

literature

• Glenny Alfsen: Peder Balke. In: Norsk biografisk leksikon. https://nbl.snl.no/Peder_Balke .
• Dieter Buchhart (Ed.): Peder Balke. A pioneer of modernity. Heidelberg 2008. ISBN 978-3-901261-42-8 .

Web links

Commons : Peder Balke  - collection of images, videos and audio files