''Midsummer Night'' (Norwegian - ''Jonsokbål'') is an oil on paper painting by the Norwegian artist

Nikolai Astrup Nikolai Astrup () (30 August 1880 – 21 January 1928) was a Norwegian modernist painter. Astrup was a distinctive, innovative artist noted principally for his intense use of color depicting the lush landscapes of Vestlandet featuring the trad ...

. It shows the traditional bonfire for

Saint John's Eve Saint John's Eve, starting at sunset on 23 June, is the eve of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, feast day of Saint John the Baptist. This is one of the very few feast days marking a saint's birth, rather than their death. The Gospel of Luke ...

— sometimes referred to as

Midsummer Night Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer, taking place on or near the date of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest Daytime, day of the year. The name "midsummer" mainly refers to summer solstice festivals of Eu ...

- in a valley at

Jølster Jølster is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It was located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnfjord. The administrative centre was the vil ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, the artist's hometown, to which he had returned in 1902. It was begun in 1912 and completed in 1926. It has been in the

National Gallery of Norway The National Gallery () is a gallery in Oslo, Norway. Since 2003 it is administratively a part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design. History It was established in 1842 following a parliamentary decision from 1836. Originally lo ...

since 1984.

External links

*http://samling.nasjonalmuseet.no/no/object/NG.M.03609 *http://digitaltmuseum.no/011042384715?query=nikolai%20astrup&pos=15 {{20C-painting-stub Paintings in the National Gallery (Norway) 1926 paintings Norwegian paintings