Oda Krohg
Encyclopedia
Åsgårdstrand
Åsgårdstrand is a city in Vestfold, Norway. It is also the name of a former independent municipality and a center of trade. The town is situated 10 km south of Horten, 10 km north of Tønsberg and 100 km south of Oslo by the west coast of the Oslofjord.From 2007, the town has had the...
— 19 October 1935 in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
), was a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, and the wife of her teacher and colleague Christian Krohg
Christian Krohg
Christian Krohg , was a Norwegian naturalist painter, illustrator, author and journalist.-Life and career:...
.
She had little formal art education, but quickly absorbed the knowledge of the artistic environment she was a part of.
Her debut was in 1886 with Ved Kristianiafjorden (Japansk lykt) («By the Oslofjord
Oslofjord
The Oslofjord is a bay in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the Torbjørnskjær and Færder lighthouses and down to Langesund in the south to Oslo in the north....
(Japanese lantern)»), now in the National Gallery of Norway
National Gallery of Norway
The National Gallery of Norway is a gallery in Oslo, Norway. Since 2003 it is administratively a part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.-History:...
. Her first years as an artist are seen as an example of new romantic painting. Her later portrait works make another, more robust impression.
She was the second daughter of public attorney Christian Lasson and Alexandra von Munthe av Morgenstierne. Her maternal grandmother was a Russian princess. She grew up in a liberal-conservative household, along with eight sisters and two brothers. Her brother Per Lasson
Per Lasson
Per Lasson was a Norwegian composer, brother of painter Oda Krohg.- External links :...
became a noted composer and her sister Caroline Bokken Lasson a singer and writer.
She got married in 1881 to the businessman Jørgen Engelhardt (1852–1921), with whom she had two children. She split from Engelhardt in 1883, and divorced in 1888. In 1885 she became a student of Erik Werenskiold
Erik Werenskiold
Erik Theodor Werenskiold was a Norwegian painter and illustrator. He is especially known for his drawings for the...
and Christian Krohg
Christian Krohg
Christian Krohg , was a Norwegian naturalist painter, illustrator, author and journalist.-Life and career:...
. She married Krohg in October 1888. In 1885, their daughter Nana was born, and in 1889, their son Per
Per Krohg
Per Lasson Krohg was a Norwegian artist. Per Krohg is most frequently associated with the mural he created for the United Nations Security Council Chamber, located in the United Nations building in New York City.-Biography:...
, who also would be a known painter. In the period 1901–1909, the family lived in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Oda Krohg is known for her landscapes, like Ved Kristianiafjorden (Japansk lykt) and Ved engen (Kinesisk lykt) («On the meadow (Chinese lantern)», 1889) and other works like En abonnent på Aftenposten («A subscriber to the Evening Post
Aftenposten
Aftenposten is Norway's largest newspaper. It retook this position in 2010, taking it from the tabloid Verdens Gang which had been the largest newspaper for several decades. It is based in Oslo. The morning edition, which is distributed across all of Norway, had a circulation of 250,179 in 2007...
», 1887), Fra festen («From the party», 1892) and Rouge et Noir (1912) and the brave Christian Krohg på Karl Johan («Christian Krohg at Karl Johansgate», 1912). She also painted portraits of, among others, Aasta Hansteen
Aasta Hansteen
Aasta Hansteen, , was a Norwegian painter, writer, and early feminist.-Background:Aasta Hansteen was born in Christiania, modern day Oslo, the daughter of Christopher Hansteen, a noted professor of astronomy, geophysics and applied mathematics at the University of Oslo...
, Ivar Arosenius
Ivar Arosenius
Ivar Axel Henrik Arosenius , was a Swedish painter and author of picture books. In the latter capacity he is most noted for the book Kattresan , which was published after his death. He lived in the village of Älvängen, north of Gothenburg...
, Gunnar Heiberg
Gunnar Heiberg
Gunnar Edvard Rode Heiberg was a Norwegian poet, playwright, journalist and theatre critic.-Personal life:...
, Johanne Dybwad
Johanne Dybwad
Johanne Dybwad was a Norwegian alpine skier who competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics.She was born in Oslo.In 1936 she finished seventh in the alpine skiing combined event.-External links:* * *...
and Christian Krohg.
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker and an important forerunner of expressionist art. His best-known composition, The Scream, is part of a series The Frieze of Life, in which Munch explored the themes of love, fear, death, melancholia, and anxiety.- Childhood :Edvard Munch...
's etching kafeinteriør (1893), Oda is surrounded by bohemians and people close to them: Munch, Christian Krohg, Jappe Nilssen, Hans Jæger
Hans Jæger
Hans Henrik Jæger was a Norwegian writer, philosopher and anarchist political activist who was part of the Oslo based bohemian group Kristianiabohêmen. He was prosecuted for his book Fra Kristiania-bohêmen and convicted to 60 days' imprisonment in a supreme court ruling in 1886...
, Gunnar Heiberg and Jørgen Engelhardt. Oda is said to have had affairs with all of these men apart from Munch. In his book Syk Kjærlihet ("Diseased Love", 1893), Hans Jæger describes a love triangle where he was strongly in love with a woman who was to marry a painter. Oda is said to have been the model for the woman, and the book describes the relation between Jæger, Oda and Christian during the summer and autumn of 1888.
In the 1890s the Krohgs moved to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. During a quarrel with August Strindberg
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
, who became provoked when Oda tuned his guitar in front of the guests at a party at Strindberg's favorite bar, "Zum Schwarzen Ferkel
Zum schwarzen Ferkel
Zum schwarzen Ferkel was a tavern located at the corner of Unter den Linden and Neue Wilhelmstraße in Berlin. Said once to have been frequented by Heinrich Heine, Robert Schumann and E. T. A...
", the dramatist Gunnar Heiberg
Gunnar Heiberg
Gunnar Edvard Rode Heiberg was a Norwegian poet, playwright, journalist and theatre critic.-Personal life:...
defended her. She and Heiberg soon fell in love and in 1897, she took one of her children, her son Per, and moved to Paris with Heiberg. Her husband took a position as an art instructor at Académie Colarossi
Académie Colarossi
The Académie Colarossi is an art school founded by the Italian sculptor Filippo Colarossi. First located on the Île de la Cité, it moved in the 1870s to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, France....
in Paris not long thereafter and Oda acquired an artist's studio in Montparnasse
Montparnasse
Montparnasse is an area of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail...
. Within a short time she became acquainted with some of the leading artists in the city, including Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
. In 1903 she showed at the Salon de Paris, and a year later held her first exhibition at the Salon d'Automne
Salon d'Automne
In 1903, the first Salon d'Automne was organized by Georges Rouault, André Derain, Henri Matisse, Angele Delasalle and Albert Marquet as a reaction to the conservative policies of the official Paris Salon...
, where she continued to be regularly involved until 1909. During this time she was in a relationship with the poet and art critic Jappe Nilssen. Oda separated from him and returned to her husband. A little while later they returned to Oslo.
She also wished to be a writer, but published very little.
Her life is described in Ketil Bjørnstad
Ketil Bjørnstad
Ketil Bjørnstad is a Norwegian pianist and composer. Initially trained as a classical pianist, Bjørnstad discovered jazz at an early age and has embraced the emergence of "European jazz"....
's novel Oda! (1983). She is buried at the National Cemetery (Æreslund) at Vår Frelsers gravlund
Vår Frelsers gravlund
Vår Frelsers gravlund is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It was created in 1808 as a result of the great famine and cholera epidemic of the Napoleonic Wars. Its grounds were extended in 1911. The cemetery has been full since 1952...
in Oslo.
Further reading
- Anne Wickstrøm. Oda Krohg : maleri. Lillehammer kunstmuseum, 2005. 11 s. ISBN 82-91388-46-6
- Anne Wickstrøm. «Oda Krohg» I: Norsk biografisk leksikonNorsk biografisk leksikonNorsk biografisk leksikon is the largest Norwegian biographical encyclopedia.The first edition was issued between 1921 and 1983, including 19 volumes and 5,100 articles...
, bd 5 (2002) - Anne Wickstrøm. Oda Krohg : et kunstnerliv. Gyldendal, 1988. ISBN 82-05-17392-3
- Anne Wickstrøm. «Oda Krohg» I: Norsk kunstnerleksikon, bd 2, 1983
- Per Krohg. «Oda Krohg : Tale ved Chr. Krohgs fest 18. nov. 1952». I: Kunst og kulturKunst og KulturKunst og Kultur is a Norwegian cultural magazine, founded in 1910 by Harry Fett and Haakon Shetelig. Editor from 2003 is Ellen Lerberg....
, 1953
External links
krus.com; Kunstnere i Akershus About her connection to AkershusAkershus
- Geography :The county is conventionally divided into the traditional districts Follo and Romerike, which fill the vast part of the county, as well as the small exclave west of Oslo that consists of Asker and Bærum...
Sørlandets kunstmuseum About the painting Aftenposten (1887) o-vaering.no Gallery