Winter in the Valdres Mountains

Vinter i Valdresfjellet (2014)

Charcoal and pastel on paper
Sigurd Bergmann

In Vinter i Valdresfjellet, Sigurd Bergmann captures the vast, snow-covered highlands of Valdres with elegant simplicity. Created in 2014, this late-period work reveals a masterful use of restraint: the scene is shaped with sparse charcoal lines and softened by the pale wash of blue sky, evoking the crisp, silent breath of a Norwegian winter.

A single mountain rises in gentle prominence, its ridges dusted with snow, while the terrain below rolls outward in sweeping forms — untouched, windswept, and open. A lone bird in the sky adds the faintest motion, reminding us of life moving through the stillness.

This is a portrait of winter not as harsh or desolate, but as majestic and introspective. It’s a landscape reduced to its emotional core — the feeling of space, solitude, and light in the high mountain air. Sigurd’s love for Valdres lives in every line.