The most famous female Norwegian painter of her era, strangely unknown outside the country, is the subject of a new exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay close to our hotels. Colourful paintings full of light, often with women as their focus.

What a pleasure to discover such a talented painter, and what a shame that it didn’t happen sooner 😕

For her first ever French retrospective, the Musée d’Orsay would love you to get to know the life and work of Harriet Backer, who gained recognition and success from her work, despite the lesser regard for women that was prevalent in Norway at the end of the 19th century.

As an introduction, the museum explains the painter’s life and inspiration through eight short texts that you can read here. In around ten minutes, you’ll be perfectly primed for your visit!

And lots of events are being organised around the exhibition:

— an inaugural conference (in French) on 11th October with the curators of the exhibition, Leila Jarbouai and Estelle Begué. French-speakers can also listen to a short interview with them below,

— a festival called Norwegians on Stage from 21st-28th November, with contemporary dance, literature, musci…

— a conference The Northerners in Paris (again, in French) on 24th November about the role of Paris in helping visiting female Scandinavian artists gain recognition,

— a concert with piano and voice, with Lydia Hoen-Tjore, Magnus Ingemund Kjelstad and Christian Grøvlen on 26th November…

— a new contemplative short film (10 minutes) by American-Swedish artist Sandra Binion – In the Light of Harriet Backer – that you can watch here

Several different exhibition visits are also available for kids and families, and the museum has commissioned the AWARE association (Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions) to produce a short animated video about Backer as part of their series called Small Stories of Great Artists and there’s an English version!

You can watch it below.

A catalogue of the exhibition (184 pages, around 39€) is also available here at your local Amazon.

---

The exhibition Harriet Backer – The Music of Color is at the Musée d’Orsay (here) until 12th January 2025

Open every day except Mondays from 9.30am-6pm (9.45pm Thursdays)

Admission: 16€ / 13€ (online tickets here)

Website / Facebook / Instagram / 𝕏

What3Words ///oddly.across.speaker

Voir cette publication sur Instagram

Une publication partagée par Musée d'Orsay (@museeorsay)