Blue Interior

Harriet Backer is known for her pictures of interiors. Although she also painted landscapes, portraits and still lifes, a majority of her production revolved around interiors. Blue Interior is one of her best known paintings in this genre.

Here Backer depicts the effect of light on the colours in the room. The title refers to a blue interior, but it is not the room itself that is blue. Daylight is reflected from the window, defining the colours and shapes of the room. The blue hue creates a unified effect. At the same time the motif is colourful and highly detailed. The model was the artist’s colleague and friend Asta Nørregaard, and the painting was executed in Paris, where they both lived.

From Munich to Paris

In 1878, Backer was one of the first Norwegian artists of her generation to move to Paris. French plein air (outdoor) painting and Impressionism became important sources of inspiration for her. She altered her painting style, moving towards the period’s more realistic motifs featuring everyday life. Blue Interior is one of the first examples of this. The picture was exhibited in both Copenhagen and Kristiania (Oslo) the same year it was painted, and was widely praised.

Spots of colour in fixed constellations like stars in the heavens

It was while Backer was in Paris that she began to explore light conditions and colour effects. She explored how to render a contrast between indoor and outdoor light in a painting. How colours are perceived differently in lamplight and in daylight. Whether it was possible to shape a good illusion of spatial depth with free, painterly brushstrokes. These were the kinds of issues she addressed. She described her working method as follows:

In my experience, being occupied with the study of light and the painstaking effort of drawing is inspiring and helps one to discover colour. […] As in the Impressionist route, […] the spots of colour shall appear in fixed constellations, as the stars in the heavens lie beckoning to each other. As musical chords resonate together, utterly beautiful, in a colouristic interplay. This is what I believe I have now learnt from Bonnat in France about how it should be.

Studies of indoor light

Interior motifs were ideal for Backer in her studies of the effects of light and colour. She was able to work indoors, practically undisturbed, in more or less comfortable surroundings and with relatively predictable light effects. Her studio was the room she was painting at any given time. Backer spent a great deal of time on each painting. She also painted landscapes, but her outdoor motifs had to be carried out more quickly due to the changing weather and constant fluctuation in light conditions. Painting interiors enabled her to devote as much time as she needed to her works. The rooms are occasionally devoid of people, but usually there is a person or two present. They are often sitting still, doing needlework, playing the piano, reading or talking. Backer used professional models and her family and friends as subjects, and she depicted both middle-class homes and farmers’ living quarters. In addition to domestic scenes, church interiors play an important role among her motifs.