Oluf Høst

Oluf Høst (1884–1966) was a Danish Expressionist painter, the only member of the Bornholm school who was a native Bornholmer. Although he studied in Copenhagen, he returned to the Danish island of Bornholm in 1929 where he remained with his family for the rest of his life. Bognemark, a little farmhouse near Gudhjem, was one of Høst's favourite motifs. From 1935 on, he painted the farm some 200 times under varying conditions at different times of the year, often reflecting his particular mood at the time. His home in Gudhjem, built from two fishermen's cottages with a rocky garden in the rear, is named "Norresân" after the nearby harbour, Nørresand Havn, where he painted many of his works.

Høst was born in Svaneke on the island of Bornholm. He attended various schools of art in Copenhagen including the Academy of Fine Arts from 1906 and 1915. During this period, he studied at Harald Giersing's school where Karl Isakson introduced him to Expressionism, especially through the work of Cézanne and Van Gogh. Inspired above all by Cézanne, Høst's work was also strongly influenced by the Nordic tradition as a result of the changing seasons and weather. This is evident in the way he depicted changes of light and mood. Høst commented:

"We have our seasons, the long light nights, the enchantment that we must struggle with, while Cézanne lived in a place where there was no weather as such, as it was always the same."

In 1913, Høst married Hedvig Wiedemann, a fellow student. They had two sons, Ole and Niels. They were sociable hosts, inviting many contemporary intellectuals to their home, including the author Otto Gelsted who was a frequent guest. In 1943, Ole, the older of his two sons who had joined the SS, died in Barvinkove (Barwenkowo), a small town on the Eastern Front in Russia. Høst felt guilty for the rest of his life about introducing his son to his friend Fritz Waschnitius, an Austrian-born translator and writer who was a Nazi supporter. It was no doubt Waschnitius who had encouraged Ole to fight with the Germans. Over the next few years, Høst painted a series of pictures of the Bognemark farm as if it was facing towards Barwenkowo.

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