Sámal Joensen-Mikines

‘The farther north we travelled, the more everything around us dissolved into mist, and shapes reduced to hazy planes and veils of colour.’ Museum director Han Steenbruggen observed how the landscape of the Faroe Islands is reflected in the work of Sámal Joensen-Mikines (1906–1979), which will be shown in the Netherlands for the first time this autumn.

Mikines spent much of his life in Copenhagen, where he studied and sold his work, yet in his art and inner world he always returned to the Faroese island of Mykines, from which he took his name. His work moves between Expressionism and Impressionism, with a strong emphasis on light and space. In the hilly landscape, the grasslands and local villages merge into colour fields that form a deep perspective. ‘Further ahead, a pale sun suddenly broke through the sky, brushing a shaft of light across the sea toward the island beyond. Filtered greens, blues and ochres,’ Steenbruggen recounts. Mikines’ longing for the Faroe Islands shimmers consistently throughout his work.

Cover image: Sámal Joensen-Mikines, Faroe Islands