Carl Oscar Borg - An Old Military Road, The Road over Dovrefjell, Norway
Regular price 26 915 krCarl Oscar Borg (1879–1947)
An Old Military Road, The Road over Dovrefjell, Norway
gouache on paper, ca. 1900
signed
sheet 12.5 cm x 17.5 (4.9 x 6.9 in)
framed 23 × 28 cm (9 × 11 in)
Essay:
This evocative mountain scene captures the vast, windswept highlands of Dovrefjell in central Norway. A narrow ochre road winds gently into the distance, cutting through tundra dotted with lichen-covered rocks, melting snowfields, and pale blue pools. Beyond the foreground, low ridgelines and rounded peaks rise up toward the horizon, tinged with mauves, rusts, and icy whites. The atmosphere is brisk and luminous—suggesting early morning light breaking over a remote, high-altitude plateau.
Dovrefjell, historically a main route between southern and northern Norway, has long been traversed by traders, pilgrims, and soldiers. The title of this work refers to the old military road across the massif—once a key artery for movement through the mountainous terrain. Borg’s painting conveys not only the natural beauty of the place, but also the quiet isolation and historical depth that characterize the region.
Painted around 1900, this gouache dates from Carl Oscar Borg’s earliest period as an artist, just before his emigration to the United States. Unlike his later, more widely known depictions of the American Southwest, this work belongs to a rare group of Scandinavian landscapes he executed as a young man. Here, his brush is loose and expressive, capturing fleeting light and shifting cloud with confident, fluid strokes. The composition is simple yet expansive, inviting the viewer to follow the winding road into the heart of the mountains.
As an early plein-air study, An Old Military Road reveals Borg’s sensitivity to light, land, and mood—qualities that would come to define his mature work. In this small but richly atmospheric piece, we see an artist on the verge of his transatlantic journey, absorbing the Nordic wilderness with a clarity and calm that echo across time.
We believe in simplicity; Therefore, all orders ship to your door without any additional costs for transport. We use professional shipping companies and pack all orders carefully with special art shipping boxes. All prices on our website include international shipping and transport insurance.
Be aware that you as a customer are responsible for paying any taxes such as import tax in the country of destination (applies to orders outside the EU).
