Subscriber content

Harriet Backer (1845-1932) The music of colors

All the versions of this article: English , français

Paris, Musée d’Orsay, from 24 September 2024 to 12 January 2025.

After Edvard Munch, Harriet Backer. The Musée d’Orsay has confirmed its interest in Norwegian art, which, as we have pointed out on a number of occasions, is, like Scandinavian art in general, a key focus of its programme and also of its acquisitions, as demonstrated by the recent inclusion in its collections of the large tapestry by Gerard Munthe and the cabinet by Lars Kinsarvik (see the news item of 4/5/24). The most famous Norwegian woman artist of the turn of the twentieth century, Harriet Backer remains largely unknown outside Scandinavia. Yet she pursued her academic training outside her own country, from Berlin and Florence to Munich and above all Paris, where she lived for a decade from 1878 to 1888. None of the successes she achieved there, winning awards at the Salon of 1880 and then at the Universal Exhibition of 1889 - for Loneliness and Home, two paintings brought together here (ill. 1 and 2) - nor the network she forged there - a privileged pupil of Bonnat, Gérôme and Bastien-Lepage at the Trélat Academy - were enough to arouse the interest of the French state. To this day, none of her works can be found in French public collections.


1. Harriet Backer (1845-1932)
Loneliness, 1878-1880
Oil on canvas - 68.5 × 92.5 cm
Private collection
Photo: Private collection
See the image in its page
2. Harriet Backer (1845-1932)
Home, 1887
Oil on canvas - 88.7 × 100.4 cm
Oslo, National Museum
Photo: Oslo, National Museum
See the image in its page

Most of the ninety or so of his paintings on show here come from private Scandinavian collections and from the collections of the two Norwegian museums behind this retrospective, the National Museum in Oslo and the Kode Museum in Bergen, which were the first and last venues for the exhibition a year ago and in the next six months respectively. After Oslo and before Paris, a second stage took place in Stockholm at the Nationalmuseum, a much more modest lender to whom the Parisian…

To access this content, you must subscribe to The Art Tribune. The advantages and conditions of this subscription, which will also allow you to support The Art Tribune, are described on the subscription page. If you would like to test the subscription, you can subscribe for one month (at €8) and if you don’t like it, you can send us an e-mail asking us to unsubscribe you (at least ten days before the next direct debit).

If you are already a subscriber, sign in using this form.

Your comments

In order to be able to discuss articles and read the contributions of other subscribers, you must subscribe to The Art Tribune. The advantages and conditions of this subscription, which will also allow you to support The Art Tribune, are described on the subscription page.

If you are already a subscriber, sign in.