Art History Lectures – Autumn 2025
This autumn, we invite you to a series of three engaging art history lectures. Each lecture begins at 18:00 and consists of two 45-minute sessions with a 15-minute break in between.
The season opens on 3 September with a double lecture. First, art sociologist and associate professor Merete Hermansen Jonvik from the University of Stavanger will offer a queer perspective on national romanticism through the art of Lars Korff Lofthus. This will be followed by Inger M.L. Gudmundson, curator and PhD at Stavanger Art Museum, who will explore queer lifestyles in the late 19th century, focusing in particular on artists Harriet Backer and Kitty Kielland.
On 15 October, professor Sigrid Lien from the University of Bergen will present a lecture on photography in Sámi history and contemporary art. The first part of the lecture will focus on historical photographs of Sámi people and northern landscapes, with a special emphasis on the iconic images captured by Sophus Tromholt in Finnmark in 1882–1883, now part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World register. The second part will explore the work of contemporary Sámi artists Bente Geving and Marja Helander, who both use photography to delve into their Sámi roots. Helander also highlights environmental issues connected to the industrial colonisation of Sámi areas.
The final lecture, on 19 November, is entitled Memorials and Stavanger 900 Years. Andreas Wathne Røst, museum educator at Stavanger Art Museum and PhD candidate at the University of Agder, will discuss the new war sailors’ memorial at Vågen. Created by artist Jone Kvie and AtSite landscape architects, the work honours the war sailors of the Second World War. This lecture will examine the memorial in light of Røst’s research into the role of the arts in Norwegian war memorials and his wider studies on the culture of remembrance.
The full lecture series is priced at NOK 600 for members and NOK 700 for non-members.
This event will be held in Norwegian.