ArtistNorwegian
Severin Grande
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Born on November 8, 1869 in Verdal, in the Trøndelag region of Norway, Severin Grande came to painting unusually late. He spent his twenties working as a craftsman before enrolling at Den kongelige Tegneskole (the Royal School of Drawing) in 1896 at the age of 27. That late start, far from holding him back, gave his work a grounded quality - a painter who had lived before he painted.
His formal training was thorough and deliberately international. He studied under Eyolf Soot and Erik Werenskiold in Norway before seeking out more ambitious instruction abroad. During the winter of 1905 to 1906 he attended the Académie Colarossi in Paris, one of the few major French ateliers open to women and international students alike. The following spring he was in Copenhagen at Kristian Zahrtmann's art school, a hub for Scandinavian painters looking to reconcile Nordic light with continental color theory. In autumn 1907 he returned again to Paris, once more to the Colarossi but this time under Christian Krohg, who was then teaching there regularly. Harriet Backer was also among his teachers, and her influence on color and interior light is visible throughout his mature work.
Grande painted primarily urban scenes, landscapes, and domestic interiors - subjects he approached with a warm, direct palette. His style sits broadly within Norwegian post-impressionism: loose but attentive brushwork, a preference for daylight over drama, and a steady interest in everyday Norwegian life. His interior subjects in particular - kitchens, still lifes, figures in rooms - show a debt to Backer's treatment of intimate space and diffused natural light.
In 1914 he was recognized among "De 14", a group of artists who exhibited collectively at the Jubilee Exhibition in Kristiania. That exhibition positioned him alongside painters working to define a modern Norwegian visual identity. In 1929, a jubilee exhibition celebrating his 60th birthday was held at the Artists' Association in Oslo. The Nasjonalmuseet holds several of his works, including "Portrait of the Artist's Wife" (1918), "Summer" (1929), and "In the Kitchen" (1905). He died in Oslo on June 13, 1934.
At auction, Grande's work appears consistently through Grev Wedels Plass Auksjoner, which accounts for all 30 items indexed on Auctionist. Prices have ranged from around 15,000 to 33,000 NOK, with top results achieved by figure studies and floral still lifes. His work occupies a solid mid-market position among Norwegian painters of his generation.