A common thread through - almost - all of Alfelt's works is the depiction of nature and her strong attraction to - to the point of being spellbound by - the nature she paints. In a 1969 interview with Virtus Schade, Alfelt explains her view on nature thus:
"The moon, the sun, the mountains, the rivers, space are to me symbols of eternity. Throughout my childhood and earliest youth I lived in the borderland between town and countryside..., out there on the border we knew nothing but the light of the paraffin lamp until 1920, inside and outside time was divided into dark time and moon time...
in time the violent but also soft light of the sky came to fulfil not only a practical purpose, I also fell in love - with the light.
I became moonstruck. During the full moon I would get out of bed and go outside to read by the moonlight or simply to bathe in the white light, see my own shadow in the night. The moon has given me some of my most captivating experiences."
Alfelt's numerous repetitions of abstract depictions of nature show us an artist who was not only fascinated with but deeply moved by a magnificent experience of nature. Alfelt's version of nature, however, is not simply picturesque but creates new imagery where sharp-edged and aggressive mountain formations fill the canvas. This nature feels familiar and calm but also new, abstract, intense, and intrusive.
Prepare to be spellbound - or 'bjergtaget' - by an artist who sees, experiences, depicts, and interprets nature and whose works return it renewed, pulsating and full of life to the nature that was so very dear to her heart.
Else Alfelt (1910-1974) The Rainbow, outline for Rungsted Public School, 1954