Christine (Kitty) Lange Kielland grew up in one of Stavanger’s patrician families, with access to art, literature and music. During the period 1872–1875, she studied privately with Hans Gude (1825–1903), who was a professor at the art school Großherzoglich Badische Kunstschule in Karlsruhe. In 1875–1878 she was tutored by Eilif Peterssen (1852–1928) and Hermann Baisch (1846–1894) in Munich, and from 1879 to about 1886 studied under Léon Germain Pelouse (1838–1891) in Cernay-la-Ville. K. L. Kielland lived in Paris between 1879 and 1889, and studied sporadically at Académie Julian and Académie Colarossi before moving back to Kristiania (now Oslo).
K. L. Kielland is best known for her paintings of the heather-covered moorlands and peat bogs of Jæren in southwest Norway. As a plein-air painter, she worked under challenging weather conditions. Skies and wide horizons occupy much space in her landscapes. The peat bogs are always depicted close up, often with “wounds” where farmers have extracted peat, and with the sky reflected in the bog pools. Stylistically, K. L. Kielland initially painted in the tradition of realism, but eventually began employing wider brushstrokes and greater emphasis on local colours. The landscapes tend to accentuate nature’s own contrasts, sometimes with people immersed in work, other times simply contemplating their surroundings.

K. L. Kielland exhibited in Scandinavia and at international exhibitions such as the Salon (1879–1883, 1887–1889), the World exhibitions in Paris (1889, 1900) and Chicago (1893) and the Venice Biennial (1897, 1899, 1907). She held three solo exhibitions in her lifetime (1899, 1904, 1911) and enjoyed positive reviews throughout her entire career. She received a silver medal at the World Exposition in 1889, the King’s Medal of Merit in Gold in 1908 and honorary membership in the Norwegian Students’ Society in 1889.

K. L. Kielland cofounded the Norwegian Association for Women’s Rights in 1884 and was on its board during the period 1890–1895. She wrote several texts as contributions to debates on gender and art. Her most extensive is the book ‘Kvindespørgsmaalet’: Tilsvar til pastor J.M. Færden [“The Women Question”: Response to Pastor J.M. Færden, 1886]. Inspired by John Stuart Mill, K. L. Kielland argued for full equal rights for men and women. She was part of a network that included several leading Scandinavian artists, authors and scientists involved in what is known as the “Modern Breakthrough”. The painter Harriet Backer (1845–1932) was her closest colleague and shared a house with her for about forty years.

In 1889 the French state bought the painting Efter regnveir [After Rain, ca. 1888], and in the following year Norway’s National Gallery (now the National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design) bought Sommernatt [Summer Night, 1886]. Upon her death, she left the National Gallery a testamentary gift for the purchase of contemporary and avant-garde art. Her works can be found in several public collections, including the National Museum, Oslo; Stavanger Art Museum (MUST); the Royal Collections, Oslo; KODE Art Museums and Composer Homes, Bergen; and Trondheim Art Museum (MiST).