Olaf Wilhelm Isaachsen (May 16, 1835 – September 22, 1893) was a Norwegian landscape and

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

painter.

Biography

He was born in

Mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative c ...

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total popul ...

county Norway. Isaachsen belonged to a branch of an affluent and educated merchant family from Kjos in

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

. He was the son of jurist Daniel Peter Christian Isaachsen, grandson of politician Isaach Isaachsen and great-grandson of Daniel Isaachsen (1744-1813), a Norwegian shipbuilder . He was the uncle of physicist Daniel Isaachsen, scientist Haakon Isaachsen (1867–1936), painter

Herman Willoch Herman Isaachsen Willoch (27 June 1892 – 11 February 1968) was a Norwegian painter. He was born in Alversund as the son of vicar Christian Abel Isaachsen, a grandson of Isaach Isaachsen. He was the cousin of Odd Isaachsen Willoch. The family ...

and naval officer

Odd Isaachsen Willoch Odd Isaachsen Willoch (26 February 1885 – 9 April 1940) was a Norwegian naval officer who commanded one of the two coastal defence ships defending Narvik during the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940. Personal life Odd Isaachsen ...

. He attended Nissens Latin School in Christiania (now Oslo). He later studied under

Joachim Frich Joachim Christian Geelmuyden Gyldenkrantz Frich (24 July 1810 – 29 January 1858) was a Norwegian landscape painter. He was associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting (''Düsseldorf-skolen''). Biography Joachim Frich was from Bergen, No ...

and

Johannes Flintoe Johannes Flintoe (1786/87, Copenhagen - 27 January 1870, Copenhagen) was a Danish-born painter of Norwegian ancestry. He is known for his landscapes, costume studies and historical scenes. His works play a significant role in the transition to ro ...

at the Royal School of Drawing from 1850, in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

from 1854 to 1859, and in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

under

Thomas Couture Thomas Couture (; 21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught many notable contemporary figures of the art world, such as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge, Pierre Puvis de Chava ...

(1859-1860) and

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( ; ; ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the ...

(1861-1862). After a visit to Italy he returned home in 1864 with a view to becoming an artist with a strong focus on archeology and history. He ultimately settled in

, although with frequent periods spent abroad. His artistic style reflected naturalism and in later years

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. Isaachsen was regarded as one of Norway's more prominent artists and great colourist with motives of the coast landscape of Southern Norway. He also painted a wide range of portraits. Moreover, he found a full valid artistic expression in

Setesdalen Setesdal (; older name: Sætersdal) is a valley and a traditional district in Agder County in southern Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Bykle, Valle, Bygland, Iveland, and Evje og Hornnes. The Otra river flows through the valley o ...

. His art often reflected the valley's distinctive culture. He is represented with 24 works in the National Museum in Oslo (NM), former

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 ...

. The Regional Museum in Kristiansand, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum (SKMU) has 58 works.

Personal life

Isaachsen was a knowledgeable and courteous man, a mixture of observation and locals, who spoke fluent German, Dutch, English, French and Italian. He was married in 1864 to Antonie (Toni) John Prehr (1838-1870). The couple had four children – William (1865-1942), Eivind (1866-1926); Johanna Marie (1867-1872) and Harald (1869-1942). His wife died of tuberculosis when only 32 years old. Two years later his four-year-old daughter Johanna Marie died of diphtheria, and he was left with three small boys. He was the paternal grandfather of Sigurd Daniel Isaachsen Willoch, an art historian and director of the National Gallery of Norway.

Selected works

* ''En sjørøver'', 1858 * ''Seks akter fra Paris'', 1859 * ''Landskap fra Apeninnene'', 1863 * ''Setesdalsstue, Kveste i Valle'', 1866 * ''Slagsmål i en bondestue'', 1866 * ''Studie av en såret mann'', 1866 * ''Liggende setesdøl'', 1866 * ''Ung setesdøl'', 1866 * ''Slagsbror'', 1867 * ''Et litterært funn'', 1870–71 * ''Bruden pyntes'', 1878 * ''Setesdalsloft'', 1878 * ''Stabbursinteriør fra Ose i Setesdal'', 1878 * ''Stuen i Holskogen'', ca. 1880 * ''Syrinbusk i morgensol'', 1881 * ''Tore Hund ved Olav den helliges lik'', 1881 * ''Venemyr i Søgne Sogn Høststemning'', 1885 * ''Efter badet'', 1889 * ''Kristiansand etter brannen'', 1892 * ''tre brannbilder fra Kristiansand'', 1892

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaachsen, Olaf 1835 births 1893 deaths 19th-century Norwegian painters Oslo National Academy of the Arts alumni Norwegian expatriates in Germany Norwegian expatriates in France Norwegian male painters People from Mandal, Norway 19th-century Norwegian male artists