Odd Nerdrum

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Early Morning, oil on canvas, 206cm x 175.5cm, by Odd Nerdrum

Odd Nerdrum (born April 8, 1944) is a Norwegian figurative painter.

Nerdrum was born in Oslo and studied traditional classical painting in the Art Academy of Oslo and, with Joseph Beuys, in New York. He began to teach himself how to paint in a classical manner, putting himself in direct opposition to the art of his native Norway. Nerdrum became a controversial artist, claiming among other things that his art should be understood as kitsch rather than art as such. His pictures recall works by the Old Masters, particularly those of Rembrandt and Caravaggio.

Nerdrum splits his time between his home in Iceland and his farm in Norway.

[edit] Collections

His work is in several important public collections including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY, The National Gallery in Oslo, Norway, The New Orleans Museum in LA, The Portland Art Museum in OR, The San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art in CA, and The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN.

[edit] Trivia

The 2000 movie The Cell, starring Jennifer Lopez and Vince Vaughn, which relied heavily on disturbing images and surreal landscapes to create the inner mind of a killer, was influenced by Nerdrum's painting "Dawn" for one scene in particular.^{[citation needed]}

Nerdrum created the cover of the progressive rock band Junipher Greene's LP Friendship (1971).