Harald Sohlberg: Painting Norway, Dulwich Picture Gallery

Few people in the UK will have heard of Harald Sohlberg, but his shiver-inducing 'Winter Night in the Mountains' (1914) is widely regarded as the ‘national painting of Norway’. It will form the culmination of the Dulwich Picture Gallery’s survey of Sohlberg’s work, bringing all the mysterious and colour-rich beauty of his canvases to London in an exhibition that aims to transport visitors to the starry fjords and lonely homesteads of the wild Nordic regions.

Timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of his birth, Harald Sohlberg: Painting Norway will be the first major showcase of the artist’s work in the UK and will chart his rise from apprentice to a scenery painter, to a master of landscape, kicking off with some intense early self-portraits. One of the exhibition’s highlights will undoubtedly be 'The Fisherman’s Cottage' (1906), which will be on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago. It is a canvas that captures the half-light of the gloaming hours. Tucked to one side, a white house glows blue-green beyond a screen of tall, dark pines. It could be a scene lifted straight from a Scandi-drama or a ghost story, such is the image’s atmospheric pull.

It is perhaps no surprise that Sohlberg took his inspiration from the myths of his homeland, distancing himself – just as his contemporary Edvard Munch did – from current trends in painting. Look out for the mermaid, rising magically from the water like the Lady of the Lake. And be sure to pause at the gallery’s mausoleum, positioned halfway through the exhibition. This closeted space will house a new installation by German-born artist Mariele Neudecker. Known for her atmospheric glass vitrines containing miniature landscapes, which seem submerged in their very own microclimates, Neudecker is the ideal contemporary accompaniment to what will be a celebration of Sohlberg’s moody and captivating canvases.