The city's as a stage: From Karl Johan

In the painting From Karl Johan, Per Krohg emerges as one of the most important mediators of urban Norway in the interwar period. With a vivid brush and clear rhythm, he captures the essence of the capital's main street, flanked by the Royal Palace, the National Theatre and the University, seen with an aerial view. Krohg's urban space symbolizes not only modern Oslo, but also the very idea of city life as a cultural and social arena.

In the middle, two female figures float, emphasizing the painting's theatrical devices of symbolism and meaning. The woman on the left in red with a Phrygian hat may be a representation of the French national icon Marianne, who since the French Revolution has been a national symbol for the French Republic's motto Liberté, égalité, fraternité — freedom, equality and fraternity. Marianne is flanked by a female figure in armor with a headdress associated with the ancient goddess Athena, who is the protector of the city (the Greek Polis). With this iconography, Krohg pays homage to the ideals of the modern state and the city, confirming his role as the painter of modern urban life.

Influence from Paris

Per Krohg spends much of his formative period in Paris, and it is there that he learns to see the city as a motif with infinite possibilities. In encounters with the cabarets, café s and boulevards of the big city, he develops a language that unites European modernism with a distinctly Nordic narrative power. When he turns his gaze homewards, it is with an eye that is both creative and analytical. In From Karl Johan, the motif is symbolically composed, with a distorted perspective that gives associations to dreamlike and theatrical scenes. Krohg shows us the city as the place where modern man plays out his drama. He highlights the values and role models that a modern city should have as an ideal.

In the summer of 1923, Krohg creates a decoration for Ernst Rolf's cabaret From Karl Johan to Lykkeland at Casino in Oslo. The full decoration showed a circus interior with several of the Krohg family members present. This motif may be related to this decoration.