Harriet Backer. Every Atom is Colour
This exhibition is an opportunity to discover the art of Harriet Backer. With a large selection of her paintings, it describes Backer’s life, artistic development, and position in society during a period when women’s rights were undergoing radical change.
The history of Harriet Backer
The play of colour and light
Harriet Backer (1845–1932) was one of Norways most significant artists. Many of her paintings are interiors, in which she explores the effects of natural light in clear intense colours. When in 1883 she exhibited Blue Interior for the first time, the Norwegian art historian Andreas Aubert captured the essence of her style with the words “Every atom is colour”.
Backer’s early ambition was to become a portrait painter. Although today she is best known for her interiors and landscapes, she continued to paint portraits throughout her career. A number of these can be seen in the exhibition, including her only self-portrait.
Private spaces
Harriet Backer was deeply interested in colour, light, and the interiors she painted. In addition, as a portrait painter, it was important for her to know the people who sat for her. Many of her subjects were friends, whom she painted in familiar surroundings, but she also depicted people from very different social circles.
She sought out private homes, small farmhouses and chilly church interiors, portraying people in the spaces where they lived, worked, and felt at ease. A christening, a painful parting, friends playing cards, a woman doing needlework because she has to, another playing the piano to entertain guests.
Role model for a new generation
When seeking to establish herself as an artist, Backer approached the domination of the art world by men as a challenge. As a champion of women’s rights, she distinguished herself more by what she did than what she said, and many were highly appreciative of the paths she opened in the fields of art and social development.
About the exhibition
The exhibition is a collaboration between the National Museum and Kode, and is supported by Sparebankstiftelsen DNB, Bergesenstiftelsen, H. Westfal-Larsen and hustru Anna Westfal-Larsens Almennyttige Fond, Yvonne og Bjarne Rieber, and Ragnhild Willumsen Grieg and Per Grieg Jr.
It will be shown first in the National Museum in autumn 2023, before travelling on to Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. The exhibition’s final stop is Kode in Bergen in spring 2025.
Explore the exhibition in 3D
Contact
Presseomtale
- A Norwegian artist obsessed with the interplay of light and architecture.
- Backer er fortsatt radikal.
- Med det sagt – å ikke vise barn og unge denne utstillingen er rett og slett en skam og frarøver den yngre generasjonen et lite stykke norsk kulturarv. Så her er det bare å valfarte til Backers verden.
- Utstillingens komplekse scenografi kunne hatt en tappende effekt på sitt publikum, men den oppleves heller som innkapslende og varm – lik de private sfærene Backer viet sitt kunstnerskap til.
- Når Nasjonalmuseets nye utstilling «Harriet Backer. Hvert atom er farge» er blitt en svært vellykket utstilling, handler det særlig om dette: at Harriet Backer ikke bare er en sjeldent spennende representant for en svært produktiv periode i norsk og internasjonal kunsthistorie, men en sjeldent god maler uansett tid og sted.
- Etter datidens rykter delte Harriet Backer det aller meste med Kitty Kielland – bortsett fra paletten og staffeliet. Nå vises en stor separatutstilling med Harriet Backers malerier på Nasjonalmuseet.
– Å komme inn i utstillingen er et lite sjokk. Den ene delen av Lyshallen der utstillingen vises, er innredet med vegger i ulike høyder og i mørke farger. Et intenst lys kommer oss i møte fra bildene.Kunstavisen 4.10.23
– Grundig presentasjon av en av Nordens fremste malere.NRK 3.10.23
– Her finner vi både hennes mest berømte bilder, men også bilder vi aldri før har sett. NRK Radio 2.10.23
– Høstens kunsthøydepunkter: Disse utstillingene bør du se.Aftenposten 15.9.23 (for abonnenter)
