Kulttuurinavigaattori

Odd Nerdrum

Painter

Norwegian·b. 1944·Website ↗

Known for:

Rembrandt-inspired figurative painting; mythological and dystopian scenes with Old Master technique

Education:

Art Academy of Oslo; studied with Joseph Beuys at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf

Odd Nerdrum is a Norwegian figurative painter born in Helsingborg, Sweden in 1944 to Norwegian Resistance fighter parents. He trained at the Art Academy of Oslo and briefly studied with conceptual artist Joseph Beuys in Dusseldorf, but devoted his career to mastering the oil painting methods of Rembrandt and Caravaggio. His paintings depict mythological and dystopian scenes with extraordinary technical skill in tenebrism and flesh rendering. A controversial figure in Norway for his anti-modernist stance, he has a global following of students and acolytes.

Odd Nerdrum's Gear List(4)

Sennelier Extra-Fine Artists' Oil Colours

Sennelier

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Uses Sennelier titanium white and Chinese vermilion as documented palette colors.

Product description

Sennelier has manufactured artists' oil colours in Paris since 1887, supplying Cézanne, Monet, Picasso, and subsequent generations from its shop on the Quai Voltaire across from the Louvre. Its Extra-Fine range uses traditional pigments ground in safflower oil for maximum color purity and lightfastness.

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Last updated March 20, 2026

Old Holland Classic Oil Colours

Old Holland

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Uses Old Holland brilliant yellow, mars yellow (also pre-mixed with white for faster flesh painting), deep ochre, and mars black. Core palette brand for earth tones and darks.

Product description

Old Holland has manufactured artists' oil colours in the Netherlands since 1664, making it the oldest surviving oil paint manufacturer. Its Classic range uses pure pigments at maximum concentration ground on triple-roll mills, producing paints with extremely high tinting strength favored by painters working in the Old Master tradition.

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Rabbit Skin Glue

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Uses rabbit skin glue to size his heavy herringbone weave linen canvas before ground application. PVA sizing noted as alternative.

Product description

Rabbit skin glue is a traditional animal-hide adhesive used to size canvas before applying oil paint grounds. It seals the canvas fibers to prevent oil penetration and has been the standard canvas sizing material since the Renaissance.

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Refined Linseed Oil

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Primary painting medium. Allowed to stand in a jar until it thickens into stand oil. Mixed with turpentine in varying ratios. Also mixed with Blanc de Meudon (calcium carbonate) to create ground layers.

Product description

Refined linseed oil is the most common painting medium for oil colors, produced by filtering and treating raw linseed oil. It increases paint flow and transparency and has been the primary oil painting medium since the fifteenth century.

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