Northern Lights
23 April 2026 - 28 May 2026
10.45 – 12.45 Thursdays
£83.00 – £415.00
Description
Today the Nordic countries are considered to be politically stable, their populations among the happiest on the planet. This short course will highlight past conflicts and traumatic events, and will follow their search for national identity among one sector of the population – their artists.
“A pure delight! Karin’s thespian skills meant that she transported us to the period making us perfect onlookers of those remarkable times. A triumph”
Course Outline
23 April 2026 – Lions of The North
Here we tell the story of the brief Empire of Sweden; its heroes Gustav 1 Vasa, Gustavus Adolphus and Charles X11 and its unheroic Queen Christina, who turned Catholic, abdicated and went to live in Rome to enjoy music, art and friendship with the Pope.
30 April 2026 – Carolus Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne)
This lecture will look at the life and work of Sweden’s “Prince of Botanists” Carl Linnaeus, born towards the end of the Age of Empire, who hoped to make his country “Great Again” through the nature and export of edible plants.
07 May 2026 – A Right Royal Danish Drama (Not Hamlet)
Today we will explore the dramatic tale of how the Enlightenment arrived in absolutist Denmark too suddenly and too soon, in the person of a German doctor, for whom the tale ended badly. But his idealism sowed the seeds of a future Denmark……
14 May 2026 – Hans Christian Andersen
Hans was not only a great storyteller but an accomplished visual artist. We will look at his exquisite papercuts and modernist collages; and discover the origins of some of his Stories.
21 May 2026 – Carl Micheal Bellman (1794-95)
With his poems and songs, he was the much-loved troubadour of the Swedish Rococo.
28 May 2026 – The Blue Hour
This session introduces us to some l9th century Swedish, Norwegian and Danish artists, each in search of a national landscape to rival those of the great Italians and the French Impressionists.