White Bear King Valemon by Theodor Kittelsen - 1912 - 423 x 300 mm. private collection White Bear King Valemon by Theodor Kittelsen - 1912 - 423 x 300 mm. private collection

White Bear King Valemon

charcoal, pencil and wash • 423 x 300 mm.
  • Theodor Kittelsen - 27 April 1857 - 21 January 1914 Theodor Kittelsen 1912

White Bear King Valemon (Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon) was painted in 1912 by the Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen. Kittelsen is famous for his nature paintings, as well as for his illustrations of fairy tales and legends, especially the ones in Norwegian Folktales (Norske Folkeeventyr, 1899) by the Norwegian folklore collectors Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. The picture illustrates a fairy tale, I, and many children in Norway grew up with—the story about the White bear King Valemon.

Once upon a time there was a king who had the most kind and happy daughter. The only thing she wishes for, is a beautiful golden wreath. Without which, she will be unhappy for ever. One day she meets a huge white bear in the woods, bearing just the kind of wreath she is dreaming of. The princess agrees to leave with him, in exchange for the wreath and her happiness.

Every night in the pitch dark, the big white bear turns into a man and spends the night with the princess. Every year, for three years, she gets a beautiful daughter. But each time the white bear rushes away with the child. One night, the princess lights a candle to see her lover as a human. Accidentally a drop of tallow hits his forehead. In a rumble, he explains that soon he would have been free of an evil witch's spell. Now he must go to the witch's kingdom and marry her. He rushes off, but she seizes his fur and rides him, though the branches batter her badly, until she is so weak that she falls off and loses him in the dark woods.

On her struggle to find King Valemon the princess meets three old women with three beautiful young girls. The girls all help her on her way with three magical gifts, and soon she reaches the witch's kingdom. There, the young princess trades her gifts with the witch, so she finally gets to her King Valemon again.

On the day the King is to marry the witch, they lay out a trap, so that the evil witch falls into a deep chasm, and she is never to be seen again.

On their way home they pick up the same three beautiful girls, who turn out to be their own daughters. King Valemon knew all along that the princess would need their help. They all live happily ever after, — and if you are really lucky, you might get a glimpse of the princess with the gold wreath, riding through the woods on her beloved White Bear King Valemon.
Theodor Kittelsen was born in 1857 in the coastal town of Kragerø in Norway. His talent was discovered when he was 17. Theodor found nature to be a great inspiration for his artwork. Theodor is highly respected as a national artists, and well known in Norway.

Kittelsen's style would be somewhere between Neo-Romantic and naive painting. His drawings are often quite gloomy, with a certain touch of magic. He played, with perfect control and delicacy, with the fine lines between reality and superstition.
- Lisa Noreik Wright, lisanoreikwright.com