Trondheim through all seasons

Inger Sitter turns 80 today

The artist Inger Sitter is 80 years old today. She was born in Trondheim in 1929,  and Trondheim Kunstmuseum has a special exhibition these days at Gråmølna.

Inger Sitter had her first painting exhibited at Trondheim Kunstforening in 1943, when she was only 13 years old. The youngest artist in the history of the museum. Today, at the age of 80, she is one of Norway's most important artists.

 Sitter is a citizen of the world, living part of the year in Norway, part of the year in southern France or northern Italy. Most of her paintings are non-figurative, which is not my favorite style. Still I have been fascinated by Sitter most of my life. May be what fascinates me more than her paintings is her adventurous life, her strong personality, the way she live what she believes.

Today Terje and I have visited the jubile exhibition. We walked around, sometimes together, sometimes alone, discussing a paintihng here, a painting there, passing by severals, standing still in front of colours, shapes, impressions.

Afterwards we sat down in the art cafe, discussing some more, saying hello to friends passing by, enjoying life on a quiet Sunday.

We walked home a little richer.

The Jewish Museum

 

In a beautiful blue house you find the Synagogue and the Jewish Museum of Trondheim.

 

I have passed the house hundreds of times, wanted to visit but never found the opportunity, until today....

 

The Blue House has three floors, the basement with an exhibition showing the life of Jews in Trondheim, the ground floor with a 2nd Word War Memorial and the synagogue up on the first floor.

 

The first Jews came to Norway in 1852, to Trondheim in the beginning of the 1880ies.

 

Most of the male Jews in Trondheim were sent to Auschwitz in Poland during the war. Only 4 of them returned in 1945.

 

The museum was opened in 1997, when Trondheim celebrated its 1000 anniversary, and was reopened in October 2001 after a restoration.

 

The museum's webpage

 

 

Reflections

 

On my walk I pass The National Museum of Decorative Arts, Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum. In the window I find my own reflection.

I was born in this city. I have lived here most of my life. This is home. This is where I belong.