KunstenaarNorwegiangeb.1879–ov.1935
Henrik Lund
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Henrik Louis Lund was born on 8 September 1879 in Bergen, into a cultivated family: his father was a lieutenant colonel and his mother, Birgitte Theodora Carlsen, was a pianist and composer. His sister Signe Lund (1868-1950) also became a composer. Lund spent time as a sailor before turning to painting, becoming a pupil of Harriet Backer in 1899 - the year he debuted publicly - alongside Nikolai Astrup and Anders Svarstad. Further studies with Johan Nordhagen followed in 1903.
Lund's formative decade unfolded largely outside Norway. He settled in Copenhagen from 1904 to 1909, achieving early success with solo exhibitions, before a state stipend took him to Paris in 1905 - a stay that proved transformative. Encountering Manet's work in Paris crystallised what would become a lifelong commitment to colour above form. Around 1907-08, art historians note a decisive shift in his work: from a controlled, geometric pictorial language toward an impressionistic dissolution of surfaces, where colour became the primary carrier of meaning. Christian Krohg caught this tendency precisely in 1911, writing after the Berlin exhibition "De seks" (The Six) that Lund "paints intentionally not the individual form too clearly, so as not to weaken the coloristic music."
That Berlin exhibition, organised by Lund himself at Ernst Cassirer's gallery and repeated in Copenhagen, brought together six young Norwegian painters - Karsten, Kavli, Svarstad, Folkestad, Laureng, and Lund - and marked a significant moment for Norwegian modernism's reception abroad. Lund continued to exhibit in Germany and returned to Paris in 1920-21. In 1912 and 1915 he travelled to the United States, where he painted portraits of Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, and the Harvard president Charles W. Eliot. His 1915 New York exhibition at Bourgeois Galleries consolidated his transatlantic reputation.
Portraiture stood at the centre of Lund's practice throughout his career. He portrayed the author Knut Hamsun repeatedly - perhaps more than any other subject - as well as painter and critic Christian Krohg, composer Christian Sinding, and writer Gunnar Heiberg. His 1926 group portrait of Sinding, Heiberg, and Hamsun, now in the National Museum in Oslo, is among the most frequently reproduced Norwegian group portraits of the early twentieth century. The National Museum holds thirteen of his works, and others are held in the Norwegian Parliament and the National Theatre.
Beyond portraiture, Lund painted coastal and summer landscapes, including the series of works exploring the Norwegian archipelago (skjærgård) that appear frequently at auction. His graphic work - etchings and drawings - also formed a consistent part of his output; a catalogue from a 1915 Bourgeois Galleries show lists paintings, etchings, and drawings together.
Lund died in Oslo on 23 December 1935. His son Knut Henrik Lund (1909-1991) became a sculptor.
On the auction market, Lund's work surfaces primarily through Norwegian houses. Of 44 recorded auction appearances, 42 are at Grev Wedels Plass Auksjoner in Oslo, with two at Nyborgs. The category split - 33 works catalogued under Art and 11 under Paintings - reflects the breadth of his output across portraiture, landscape, and works on paper. Top prices at auction include NOK 380,000 for Skjærgård (1923), NOK 350,000 for Portrett av Christian Krohg (1921), and NOK 250,000 for Kvinne på seng (1908), confirming his standing as one of the more sought-after Norwegian painters of his generation.