Leonard Rickhard

For 40 years he has distinguished himself as one of Norway's most prominent painters. Leonard Rickhard's pictorial world is characterized by his upbringing after World War II, with motifs such as military barracks, fighter jets and other vehicles, cross-sections of landscapes and buildings, interiors with model aircraft building and bird collections. Rickhard's paintings have been called melancholic and are often perceived as enigmatic and at the same time analytical. He is well rooted in Western painting tradition where, for example, Poussin and Seurat can be mentioned as sources of inspiration.

Throughout the second floor of TKM Bispegata, you can experience an extensive selection of drawings and paintings from 1990 until today.

Every morning Rickhard starts with a couple of hours of work in his sketchbook, where ideas for paintings are tried before they are put into practice. In connection to the exhibition, we are publishing a book with a large number of pages from Rickhard's sketchbooks, and in addition an interview with the artist. For the first time, we get to take part, to a greater extent, in Leonard Rickhard's visual thought work, and see parts of the preparatory work for the paintings in the exhibition.

Märit Aronsson, project manager