Sandvika, Norway

Sandvika is the administrative centre of the municipality of Bærum in Norway. It was declared a city by the municipal council in Bærum on 4 June 2003. Sandvika is approximately 8 miles from Oslo.

Lowry refers to Sandvika twice in his first novel Ultramarine; firstly referring to where Dana Hilliot and Janet Travena fall in love; "And in Norway itself, where they had first fallen in love, over beyond Sandvika, the goat bells going tinkle, tonkle tankle tunk-" (Pg. 28) and "-other trams in other places: strolling with Janet over beyond Sandvika.The cowbells had tinkled faintly up the forest road. The woman picking berries - red currants. Crickets chirped. Dandelions - wild sweet peas - cornflowers - oats." (Pg. 84).

There is no documentary evidence that Lowry visited Sandvika. He may have known of Monet's paintings. Claude Monet visited in early 1895. During his stay he painted several views of the town and the surrounding landscape, with the mountain ridge Kolsås featuring in many of the paintings either in the background or as the primary subject. Perhaps the most well known of the paintings from this visit is 'Sandviken Village in Snow' which features the Løkke bridge in the foreground with Kolsås in the background.