Twilight (painting)

Twilight
Artist	Odd Nerdrum
Year	1981
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	198 cm × 260 cm (78 in × 100 in)
Location	Private collection

Twilight (Norwegian: Skumring) is a 1981 painting by the Norwegian artist Odd Nerdrum. It depicts a woman defecating in a forest clearing. Nerdrum presented the painting as a "tribute to the natural, the true human being whom we all fear".[1]

The painting was rejected by Høstutstillingen in 1981, along with all other submissions in a similar figurative style, which created media reactions in Norway. According to the jury president Per Kleiva, it was rejected solely because of a lack of technical accomplishment, and not because the subject was seen as controversial. It was instead exhibited at the gallery Blomqvist Kunsthandel, together with rejected paintings by other artists.[2]

It was reviewed in Aftenposten, where the critic described it as shocking and unappetizing. Nerdrum replied: "I certainly don't mean to shock, but I don't want to conceal any part of reality."[3]

Joseph Beuys, who had been Nerdrum's teacher at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, described Twilight as "possibly the most radical" painting he knew of.[4] Twilight has been described as the start of a new course in Nerdrum's oeuvre, where he abandoned the political and social themes that had dominated his works in the 1970s.[5]

References

1. Nerdrum, Odd; Vine, Richard; Bullard, Edgar John (1994). Odd Nerdrum, the drawings. New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art. p. 10.
2. "Historikk" (in Norwegian). Høstutstillingen. Archived from the original on 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
3. Christiansen, Ann (2013-09-13). ""Humbug" "Infantilt" "Uappetittlig"". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-02-18. Jeg mener slett ikke å sjokkere, men jeg vil ikke fortie noen del av virkeligheten.
4. Flor, Harald (2001-11-05). ""Rembrandts reinkarnasjon"". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-02-18. det muligens mest radikale
5. Nerdrum, Odd; Pettersson, Jan Åke (1998). Odd Nerdrum: storyteller and self-revealer. Oslo: Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art; Aschehoug. p. 42. ISBN 9788203222726.