Harriet Backer (1845-1932), a major figure in the Norwegian art scene at the end of the 19th century, is finally being honored in France with this first retrospective dedicated to her work.
Date: from September 24, 2024 to January 12, 2025
Venue: Musée d'Orsay
Desire: impressionism, intimism, artistic journey
One of the most renowned painters of her time in her native country, Backer is distinguished by her remarkable mastery of color and light. Her work, at the crossroads of realism and impressionist innovations, demonstrates a bold synthesis between intimate interior scenes and open-air painting. Her rich and luminous palette subtly captures the variations in light, offering compositions of great emotional and visual depth.
The exhibition invites us on a journey through Backer's artistic career, tracing her training in the great cultural capitals of Europe, where she drew on the aesthetic influences of her time, while asserting a personal signature. Her paintings, often inspired by Norwegian daily life, oscillate between the intimacy of rustic interiors and the grandeur of portraits of the rural world, without forgetting her famous representations of church interiors, bathed in silence and spirituality. Far from being limited to a picturesque vision of peasant life, Harriet Backer transcends stylistic boundaries to capture the very essence of the atmospheres she depicts, always with particular attention to the subtle play of light.
In addition to her pictorial talent, the exhibition also highlights her feminist commitment, shared with many Scandinavian women artists of her time. At a time when women were still relegated to a secondary role, even in the art world, Backer was able to assert herself through the power of her brush. Her work demonstrates a genuine determination to claim an equal place with her male counterparts in the artistic sphere. Her thematic choices, often centered on domestic life, reflect both an affirmation of the female experience and a reinvention of spaces traditionally associated with women.
This retrospective not only celebrates a talented painter, it also explores the social and cultural issues that Harriet Backer faced, and how she was able, through her art, to participate in the redefinition of the place of women in society and in the art world. Through a journey rich in works, the visitor thus discovers not only an exceptional artist, but also a committed woman who, at a time when women were not fully recognized as citizens in Norway, was able to become one of the key figures of the art scene of her time.
Date: from September 24, 2024 to January 12, 2025
Venue: Musée d'Orsay
Desire: impressionism, intimism, artistic journey
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