– We are in the middle of the rush. The ventilation system is being completed, there is carpentry and painting, clean-up – and some pictures that have not been hung up yet, says Öde S. Nerdrum to NTB on the phone from Stavern.
46 of Odd Nerdrum’s works will be displayed on the walls of an old industrial building in Sjøparken. Paintings that he has saved on, sometimes saying no to sell, from 1962 to 2024.
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The best
– The oldest is a drawing from 1956, of a boy standing full-figured in the dark. It is very geeky even though he was only 12 when he made it, says the son, who has apprenticed with his father.
It is rare for artists to keep so much of their production themselves. And Öde Nerdrum is immodest on his father’s behalf when he states that the quality of the paintings his father has saved up is high.
– Munch’s best pictures hang in the National Gallery, not in the Munch Museum. In this case, some of the best pictures are still in Nerdrum’s possession, it says.
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30 years on the roll
It was exciting last week when they brought out the iconic painting “Sleeping Twins” and literally rolled it out.
– It has been on a roll in a dark room for over 30 years. It was timely to get it up on a frame, because paint hardens over the years. It is in good condition, it was very nice, says Öde Nerdrum, who calls himself contractor for the Nerdrum Museum.
It was he and his mother Turid Spildo who decided to take action and make the museum dream come true. It has been “a steep learning curve”, according to Öde Nerdrum – but on Friday evening the festive birthday present is ready to be opened.
– Self-delivering
And what does Odd Nerdrum himself think? He is “very excited”, according to his son, who admits that his father also seems “very nervous” about the reception the museum will receive.
– Having your own museum with 46 works is quite self-indulgent. Not only the personal in terms of how they are painted, but also the psychological – where he reveals himself through the pictures, says Öde Nerdrum:
– When you get such a large span of time, his whole life is put up on the walls. Both his professional, vocational life as a painter, and his personal life – what he has experienced and used in his works.
Follow inner voice
Director of the new Nerdrum museum and curator of the exhibition is Martin Romberg, actually a composer.
In a statement, he states that all of Nerdrum’s work will be expressed between the walls – painter, philosopher, debater, playwright and teacher through the Nerdrum School.
– When we receive school classes and children and young people at the museum, our first message should be of pure human nature: If you want it and are brave enough, it is possible to follow your unique inner voice despite what the times dictate, says Romberg and adds:
– Odd Nerdrum’s life and work are living proof and a source of inspiration for all young people today that such authenticity is possible
With teaspoon
Odd Nerdrum has traversed the Norwegian art world almost throughout his six-decade-long career. The son says with a small smile that he has “got it in with a teaspoon” from childhood that standing up to peer pressure is a matter of course.
– It is only gradually that I have understood that it is something that is foreign to many today, being able to resist.
Öde Nerdrum thinks that the Nerdrum museum comes about under private auspices is completely natural and in a long tradition.
– Most big things start privately, just think of the National Theatre. We should have had more of the mesen culture. There should have been more incentives to become a sissy, such as such gifts being tax deductible. That you get a deduction if you pay the bills of a poor young painter!