ArtistNorwegian
Erik Werenskiold
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Erik Theodor Werenskiold grew up inside Kongsvinger Fortress in Hedmark, southeastern Norway, where his father served as commander. Born on 11 February 1855 in Eidskog, near Kongsvinger, he was the fourth son in a military family, but his path led away from the garrison and toward the easel. After attending a private Latin school in Christiania (Oslo), he enrolled at the Royal School of Art and Design, studying under Knud Bergslien. The decisive years came in Munich, where he lived from 1875 to 1879. A subsequent period in Paris from 1881 to 1883 deepened his commitment to naturalism.
Returning to Norway in 1883, Werenskiold began spending summers in Telemark. Works like "En bondebegravelse" (Peasant Burial, 1883-1885) established him as a painter of Norwegian rural life with a seriousness and emotional depth that set him apart. The National Gallery acquired it in 1885.
Werenskiold's parallel career as an illustrator proved equally significant. Beginning in 1879, he produced drawings for Asbjornsen and Moe's collection of Norwegian folk tales. These illustrations, alongside those of Theodor Kittelsen, established a visual vocabulary for Norwegian folklore that persists to this day. Later, he illustrated Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla, the medieval Norse kings' sagas.
As a portrait painter, Werenskiold captured Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Edvard Grieg, and Henrik Ibsen. In 1896, he settled in Lysaker, where he became a central figure in the Lysaker circle. He received the Norwegian national artist's salary from 1908 and was appointed Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1890. He continued working until his death on 23 November 1938.
On the auction market, Werenskiold's works appear primarily through Grev Wedels Plass Auksjoner in Oslo, with 105 recorded lots on Auctionist. The highest recorded sale is "Memories I" from 1890 at 2,700,000 NOK, followed by "You and baby" from 1884 at 1,800,000 NOK.