Bits and pieces

Quote of the week

If you tiptoe into cold water, you're missing out on the rush of plunging in headfirst.

Simone Elkeles

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Hello,

Tomorrow, Thursday, I will go to Oslo to visit my son Hannes for a couple of days. It will be nice to see him, before he is living for a longer trip. I will take the opportunity to meet a school friend who is living in Oslo since many years. We have not seen each other for around 30 years, except on Facebook, so it will be a very nice reunion. Hannes is playing a couple of padel tournaments, so it will feel like old times, when I took him around for tennis tournaments.

A cold dip

This morning I went to what we call a ‘kallbadhus’, that is a bath house where you first sit in the sauna and then go and dip yourself in the sea, or lake, depending on where you are.

Up here in the north it is a tradition in the winter. If there is ice on the lake/sea you open a hole in the ice. After the sauna you go into the water to cool down. I have never done it through the ice, but close by where I live there are two of these old style bath houses. In the old days people did not have bathrooms or showers, so used the public bath for cleaning themselves. The old Romans … and so on. Although their water was somewhat warmer than here.

It is supposed to be very healthy, and I have visited the bath house a couple of times in the summer. I decided to make it a habit with two times a week. It is a nice way of spending an hour or two. Sitting in the sauna, enjoying the heat and speaking with the other ladies. Then, venturing out in the cold, along the jetty, leave your towel behind and enter the water. This was the coldest water I ever dipped myself in.

The air temperature was around 5C/41F and the water temperature was 8,3C/46F. I wanted to swim between the jetties, but it was so cold, I thought I would faint, so turned back rather quickly. It felt very nice though once out of the water, so I went back to the sauna and went into to the water another time. Hopefully, you get used to it and it will be easier. Although, the ladies there, regulars, said it had felt rather cold lately. Let’s see how I feel next time.

Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch (1863-1944) is a Norwegian painter. Recently I watched a documentary on how his paintings (he was very active and his works amounts to over 1000 paintings) were moved from the old museum to the newly built museum. The move was like a thriller, considering the vulnerability of his paintings. It seems he used a special colour that does not age well. A lot of the paintings had to be restored before moving them. His biggest painting is 60m2 and the logistics had to be very well planned. It worked out very well, and the museum is now open to the public.

He was mostly ill during his childhood and he had a fear of inheriting a mental condition running in the family. After his studies he began a bohemian life under the influence of nihilist Hans Jaeger. He inspired him to go inside himself and paint his emotions and psychological state. It is from these conditions that Munch’s style developed. His most famous painting is The Scream, painted in 1893.

The Scream (National Gallery of Norway)

“In his diary Munch wrote: "Nice 22 January 1892"

‘One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord – the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream.’”

Later on he described his inspiration:

“‘I was walking along the road with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.’”

I think most people viewing the painting will not be left untouched. You can feel the pain, most likely psychological, of the man in the painting. Another of his famous paintings is ‘Madonna’ which is one of my favourites. Both of these painting he made in several versions. I am looking forward to visiting the museum, and will give you a review once I am back.

Madonna (Munch Museum)

On the blog this week

Nonfiction November - week 3

Novellas in November - week 3

That’s all for this week.