Håkon Gullvåg was born in Trondheim in 1959, and works mainly in Trondheim and Oslo. As a painter, he has had a central position in the Norwegian art scene since his artistic breakthrough at Gallery Dobloug in 1983, and numerous major institutions have purchased his works.

Gullvåg’s characteristic style makes his works easily recognizable. Since the early 1990s his foremost hallmark has been monumental compositions that exude baroque vigour. The motifs are suggested with quick brush strokes in pure and harmonious colours, against an evenly coloured background. This dramatic mode of painting underscores a theme that receives an increasingly central position in Gullvåg’s art: the transience of being.

The motifs are marked by sur...