This image is the depiction the Wild Hunt or the Furious Host, a representation of the dead travelling across the sky to Valhalla, a hall where the souls of the slain feast for eternity with Odin or Woden, a storm god.
Odin leads the souls on a pale gray or white horse usually preceded by an owl and followed ravens, birds sacred to Odin. He is also accompanied by hunting dogs that can speak, and the souls themselves may at times take the form of hounds or boars.
As the legend goes, witnessing the Wild Hunt leaves the viewer blind or insane.
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Artist
Peter Nicolai Arbo
(1831 - 1892)
Norwegian
Title
Åsgårdsreien
Date
1872
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
165.5 x 240.5 cm
Location
Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo
Image size
400 × 270 pixels
File size
27.42 KB
Full size image
(1500 × 1012 pixels, 332.22 KB)
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