In this watercolor painting, I’ve portrayed Idun, the Norse goddess of spring, youth and rejuvenation. She’s famously depicted as a goddess, who has a wooden basket in which she keeps magical golden apples. These apples give the Norse gods their immortality. Without them, they grow old, grey and frail and would ultimately die according to Norse mythology.

In Norse mythology, she was tricked by the god Loki to follow him out of Asgard, so the giant Thjazi could abduct her and her golden apples. With Idun out of Asgard, the Norse gods started aging rapidly and lost their vigor. When they discovered that Loki was responsible for her disappearance, they threatened to kill him if he didn’t bring her back. Loki managed to rescue her from Thjazi and with Idun’s return, the gods rejuvenated again by eating her apples. Her name Idun means ‘the rejuvenating one’.

To tell her story, I had to depict her holding one of her famous golden apples in her one hand, and her wooden basket with the magical apple held with her other arm. In the background, I painted a beautiful misty coniferous forest, of which there are so many in Scandinavia. I truly loved painting her.