associated with Húsafell and he often dwelt there for long periods of time during these summers. The output of these years was prolific and this could be attributed to two factors: new vigour and zest which followed in the wake of improved health, and the influences from the younger generation of lcelandic artists who had returned after studying abroad. One of the latter was Þorvaldur Skúlason who painted in Húsafell during the summer of 1941. Over the next few years great changes can be observed in Ásgrímur’s paintings. He narrows his attention and his concentration now shifts from the mountain horizon and open space to that which is closer at hand. Húsafell forest and the distinctive reddish soil of the area now become his main subject material. It is as though he discovers a new drive to interpret the country, not only its appearance, but also to dissect it and to come in touch with the primary forces themselves. He peels back the topsoil to expose the red-brown subsoil and searches for the jagged wounds of frost smitten wood. The twisted birch twigs unite the sky and the earth and between them can be glimpsed Eiríks Glacier, Mt. Tunga and Mt. Strútur which have now receded into the background. The twigs take on a human-like appearance, each with its own distinctive personality, and create a graceful rhythm in time with the painter’s own tempo. The mountains are no longer blue, but colourful red and ochre yellow, and the long shadows cast by the tree branches on the russet soil are a dim purple and full of life and the brush strokes become turbulent and massive. I often feel that in Húsafell Ásgrímur came closest to understanding those painters to whom he felt most closely related: Cézanne and Van Gogh. Cézanne’s well known words, “In nature’s presence I acquire a deeper understanding’’ could just as easily have come from Ásgrímur’s own mouth. Both of them were very dependent on visual influences, and neither of them could toy with nature or paint that which wasn’t there. In Húsafell Ásgrímurfound his Mont-Saint- Victoire; the pyramidal form of Mt. Strútur which he painted so passionately for over three decades, as though it were repetition of some kind of a religious ceremony. He followed the cycles of nature with anticipation, to see the variations he had previously perceived. The story is circulated by the inhabitants of Húsafell, of how he waited and excitedly looked forward to the grassy green band which appeared on Eiríks Glacier as the summer wore on. It was not until the green band made its appearance that he could paint it. Ásgrímur’s paintings from Húsafell Forest from the 1940’s bear similarities to Van Gogh’s paintings of fruit trees in Arles in 1888, just as Ásgrímur has used Van 45

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