Odd Nerdrum Quotes on Art

Odd Nerdrum is a famous Swedish-born Norwegian painter, draftsman and printmaker. He is best known for his figurative paintings created using classical techniques and for his ‘On Kitsch’ manifesto discussing the Kitsch art movement. Famous Odd Nerdrum paintings include “Woman with Milk”, “The Iron Law”, “The Savior of Painting”, “Man Bitten by a Snake”, “Sleeping prophet”, “Self Portrait with Eyes Closed”, “The Dentures”, “Boating on the Seine (La Yole)”, and “The Golden Cape”.

Mini biography: Born Odd Nerdrum on the 8th of April, 1944 in Helsingborg, Sweden. His mother was Edith Marie (Lillemor) and his father Johan Nerdrum. After his father’s death he found out that his biological father was the Norwegian architect David Sandved. Nerdrum married the artist Turid Spildo in 1995.

List of Famous Odd Nerdrum Art Quotes

I can actually do whatever I want. I can choose the world I want to be in, but then I might need to be a bit wealthy so that I can protect myself. It is obvious that one must protect oneself, I know that. Odd Nerdrum

I’m not so good with numbers. Do you know much about Venetian turpentine? No, but I don’t expect that either. Odd Nerdrum

Because modernism has conquered art, kitsch is the savior of talent and devotion. Odd Nerdrum

There’s nothing wrong with modernism in itself, but it’s modernism’s oppressive and racist methods, which I think are conspicuous, and I thought it would change with Glasnost, when Communism was disbanded in the ’80s, it was about to dissolve due to Postmodernism. But modernism took over again and again, and now we’re back to the same place. With the same form of racism that the modernists perform. Odd Nerdrum

I am very interested in the metaphors. The two-sidedness of the motives is fascinating. A topic is not interesting enough until it is multi layered. There is no vigor in a motive without many layers. Odd Nerdrum

To be born into a bad era is no excuse. I must be compared with the best in any era.

I saw that I was in the process of making a choice that would end in defeat. By choosing those qualities that were so alien to my own time, I had to give up at the same time the art on which the art of our time rests. I had to paint in defiance of my own era without the protection of the era’s superstructure. Briefly put I would paint myself into isolation. Odd Nerdrum

Pop-art was in fashion at the time. But after my encounter with Rembrandt, I realized that I was left with no other choice. It was impossible to obey the times when this was so overwhelming. I thought that I would never be able to make something that great, but I would rather fail than avoid the risk. This was the way! Odd Nerdrum

One can protect oneself by having enough money to be able to pay off the wolves so that they don’t destroy what you have. Odd Nerdrum

I have always had myself as a role model. You lose when you compare yourself to the beauty ideals, so I prefer to be a winner in my own life instead of a loser in other people’s lives. Odd Nerdrum

No one dares to speak their mind because of a totalitarian zeitgeist, everyone’s gagged. Almost no artist dares to utter their sincere meaning in interviews anymore. They’re reiterating the authorities’ ideas, they’re dependent on the money they can receive from the public agencies. I am free to say what I want. But I notice how artists are talking over each other in the same voice, because they’re afraid. Odd Nerdrum

Odd Nerdrum Self Portrait Painting

More on Realist Painter Odd Nerdrum

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Related or similar popular artists and celebrities include: Edgar Degas, Francisco Goya, Rembrandt, Thomas Eakins and other Famous Realist Artists.