Odd Nerdrum

Odd Nerdrum is a Norwegian figurative painter. A controversial figure in Norway, he is known for his anti-modernist stance. Themes and style in Nerdrum's work reference anecdote and narrative. Primary influences by the painters Rembrandt and Caravaggio help place his work in direct conflict with abstraction and conceptual art. They include still life paintings of small, everyday objects, portraits and self-portraits, and large paintings allegorical and apocalyptic in nature. The figures in Nerdrum's paintings are often dressed as if from another time and place. His work has largely been met with negative criticism from Norwegian art critics. Art critic Stig Andersen described Nerdrum as the leader of an "authoritarian personality cult" and his audience as an "uneducated, narrow-minded bourgeoisie," representing "the triumph of popular culture over art."