House On The Hill

House On The Hill by Martin Howard (2013)
Watercolour, 40.6 x 30.5 cm, 140 lb Fine grain paper.
Bergebo, Borlänge.


One of my favourite areas for going for walks, where I live in Borlange, Sweden, is Bergebo. During the winter, it is a popular skiing area. The rest of the year, it is a popular place for walkers, joggers and school children on outings. On the many occasions that I have been there, I have wondered why there was a road that didn't lead anywhere and this old house, abandoned on the top of the hill where the school children go sledging in the winter. As I wandered down that road on this day, the autumn colours were at their peak. I walked past the house and the sun caught the trees around it and the colours were so strong and bright. It made a lovely scene that I just had to paint, but now I needed to know why that house was there. I asked around and did some research and found that the house had belonged to a caretaker for a sanatorium which had stood along that road. It was built in 1906/7 and was used for the treatment of tuberculosis sufferers who needed to be isolated from other hospitalized patients. Part of their treatment involved exposure to fresh air which is why the sanatorium was built in Bergebo. The sanatorium eventually became an old peoples home, but was destroyed by fire in 1952.