Dal Dovrefjäll
1904
Gustaf Fjæstad captures the crushing silence of a Scandinavian winter in this mesmerizing 1904 piece. The landscape is buried under thick, heavy snow that looks less like frozen water and more like a soft, textured blanket of white scales or bubbles. Tall pine trees in the background stand like ghostly sentinels, weighed down by the frost. As a key member of Sweden's 'Racken Group,' Fjæstad was obsessed with nature mysticism, trying to paint the spiritual feeling of the wilderness rather than just a realistic snapshot. The sheer amount of detail in the snowdrifts makes you want to reach out and touch the cold, quiet surface.