Summer

Sommer

Translation: Summer
Artist: Sigurd Bergmann
Year: 1984
Medium: Watercolour on textured paper

In Sommer, Sigurd Bergmann captures the essence of the Norwegian summer not through intricate detail, but through emotion and atmosphere. This piece is a masterclass in restraint — a quiet field of soft golden tones lies beneath a sky heavy with violet and lavender clouds. There is no distinct horizon, only a seamless blending of land and air, as if the whole world has been warmed into a soft blur by the season’s light.

The palette is dreamy yet grounded, with hints of orange and pale blue peeking through like sunbursts breaking gently through a thick sky. The brushwork is loose and spontaneous, suggesting the heat shimmer on an open plain, or the way light filters through the long grass at dusk.

Sommer is less a landscape and more a memory — a moment when time slows down, when sound softens, and the only thing left is the warmth on your skin and the breath of the breeze.