Vigdis was born on a freezing starry Norwegian night when the many colors of the auroras borealis burst forth, racing across the sky like an omen heralding in the eventful life awaiting the little girl.
Brimming with artistic genes from birth and raised in an environment always revolving around art, Vigdis draws and paints whenever there is a pencil or brush around. She adores visiting zoos, marvelling at the animals, whose beauty and mystery fascinate her. Sunny Mediterranean countries hold a special place in her little heart through summers spent with her mother on the Riviera. Its lovely sunny colours and enchanting scents totally inspired her.
A CHILDHOOD CRISSCROSSING EUROPE
FAR AWAY FROM FAMILY
Aged 8 Vigdis leaves Norway. Although she adapts herself to different countries & environments, and ends up speaking five languages with ease, she feels different, and deep down is nostalgic for the Norway of her early childhood.
Shortly after her arrival in Sweden her parents announce their divorce - a time of great sorrow. She then travels, often alone, with her egocentric and somewhat irresponsible father, so little aware of the needs of his daughter - a charmer, intellectual and impossible dreamer! Together, they race along the highways of Europe in his big black Mercedes 600SL! The diverse artistic treasures of Europe provide a rich learning experience for Vigdis. Life is sweet in southern Europe with its scents and enchanting colors bathed sunshine. France becomes her favorite dream during her winter school-days when her mother goes away for long periods often leaving Vigdis and her little brother to pass long winter months alone. When they miss their mother too much they kiss the teacup they keep with the lipstick imprint of the kiss their mother left on it before parting.
Vigdis studies modern painting in Hamburg, passes her BAC, with honors, in Stockholm, takes courses in Sweden in the history of art at the University of Uppsala and later in philosophy at the University of Lund. From her childhood she spends her summer holidays at her English aunt’s lovely property in the Midi. Now a vibrant and brilliant student in her late teens, Vigdis is totally intrigued and seduced by a very handsome young Frenchman, introduced to her by her English and Italian friends. However her family is concerned by her infatuation and soon she finds herself on a plane to Egypt to join her mother who, now remarried to a Scot, lives between Cairo and London. She enrolls herself in Psychology at the American university in Cairo. However after a term her stepfather feels that Cairo is not the place for a very free spirited young Scandinavian girl to study psychology. It is recommended that she goes, with her brother to London to further her studies. Where they were admitted to the Polytecnic Chelsea School of Art.
What madness to study psychology in Egypt, a Muslim country where a woman’s role is very different to Vigdis’ Viking spirit. Fearless and free she rides around the Pyramids with her brother, learns the twist on an old boat of Faruk’s moored on the Nile, while her stepfather receives letters from Egyptian strangers requesting her hand in marriage! She continues her research of art and beauty; in the splendour of the magnificent Museum of Cairo; in the sublime architecture of the mosques; and all over this incredibly captivating and magic country. Her mother and stepfather hang Vigdis’ drawings and paintings on their beautiful colonial walls, where they are seen and commented on at their many cocktail-parties. Later on, although installed in London’s posh Sloane Street, they received just 15 pounds a month each in pocket money and almost die of hunger, living on cornflakes and cigarettes! Her thirst and passion for her studies at the Chelsea School of Art sustain her, while all the time exchanging letters with her French love. Early on she dreamt of becoming a singer, a writer, a painter, even a politician but she knew she would consecrate her life to art.
After her wedding in London, her new French husband brings her to his family home in Paris, where Olivier and Alice are born.
She continues her artistic education, first at La Grande Chaumière and next at l’Académie de Port-Royal.
Because of her family circumstances she was lead to refuse her admission to « L’école des Beaux Arts » in Paris. This was a time when she suffered from of a very complicated family situation. Her commitment to her artistic education was her only real escape. Her liberation came when she acquired her own artist's studio and was allowed to fully concentrate on her painting. She could at last become professional.
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In the 1980s on one of her visits to the U.S. she creates her own artistic publicity agency together with an American painter. She calls it “OURS BLEU” in honor of the Norwegian Polar bear.
The Polar bear becomes her emblem and leads to her meeting Brigitte Bardot.
Seeing Vigdis’ animal paintings finds them perfect for her foundation’s posters and T-shirts for animal protection.
With her marriage now in shatters, Vigdis flees and is invited to live and work, for the time she needs or wishes, at the Claude Monet Foundation in Giverny. Here she is inspired to paint Norwegian folk tales, mixed with personal anecdotes . She also takes to experimenting different techniques for portraits.
One fortunate day Vigdis meets Florence and Gerald Van de Kemp, brilliant curators, previously giving their generous ….. to Versailles and now the creators of the Claude Monet Foundation at Giverny. They turned Monet’s, then somewhat forgotten, house & garden, back into the magic world it used to be, into Claude Monet & AliceHoschedé creation in the later half of the later 19ooth century; It is here that Vigdis had the most extraordinary workshop of her lifetime but rather than painting the flowers, gardens, lake and the famous little bridge. She paints her animals and perfects different technics for her portraits. She spends two years in this remarkable world where an extraordinary and deep friendship develops between her and Florence Van Der Kemp, one of the great American ladies of 20th century…loved and envied by many!
—During a long divorce proceedings, she went incognito to meet her lover while private detectives and photographers sort to pursue her in the streets of Paris - a very delicate situation… So her lover takes her away on his white horse, called Dino Ferrari, to travel and discover all the beauty of France, and then all over the world, to meet his family and friends. Her life she felt, “was filled with roses.
—Next step : She eliminates female-competition…at least she imagines all sorts of ways to do so ways to do so…
In 2008 the Norwegian Embassy organizes an exhibition of Vigdis’ work at the Palais de la Decouverte au Grand Palais.
Its theme highlights global warming, and the melting of the North Pole’s icebergs causing the sad existence of Polar bears and their sufferings. Vigdis tries to sensitise the public to the tragic disappearance of our Northern animals.
She treats the subject with poetry and humour. The exhibition is a resounding success and runs for half a year, having four prolongations.
The Cultural Attaché, Minister Trove Kijewsky and the Ambassador Björn Skogmo of Norway in 2008 organise this exhibition for Vigdis, consecrated to the animals affected by the melting ice, a subject that particularly consumes Vigdis .
Over the months of her exhibition, Vigdis gives numerous workshops "draw me an ours blanc" to educate the young to respect the environment and appreciate the serious consequences of global warming, as well as to have them discover and love painting.
In 2009 Vigdis is awarded the medal of Bronze by La Société des Artistes Français for her entry in Art Capital. La Société des Artists Français is the direct heir of the Salon de l’Académie Royale, created in 1667 by Colbert for King Louis XIV. It holds its important salon annually in the Grand Palais as part of Art Capital. Art Capital brings together the "historical salons" across history and reflects the trends in which contemporary art is expressed today. Every year 2,500 artists exhibit their works to a large public.
Vigdis is a cosmopolitan artist with a sensitive and whimsical spirit. She is very preoccupied with the evolution of Europe. An adventurous Viking spirit and seeker of knowledge in many lands, her imagination, marked by her native Norway and Scandinavia, is influenced by world events that surround and preoccupy her deeply. Her paintings reflect this. She is continually inspired and obsessed by her undying passions and seeks out new subjects wherever they may be.
Vigdis has a follow ing of collectors and exhibitors on the five continents: Oslo, Paris, London, New York, Sydney and Milan.
Miraculously surviving lung cancer in the summer of 2011 through the intervention of Professor René Jancovici, Vigdis embraces life and a new phase begins. She challenges herself exploring new techniques and ideas, whilst dividing her time between Norway, her Parisian apartment, her studios and her travels.
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Seeing Vigdis’ animal paintings finds them perfect for her foundation’s posters and T-shirts for animal protection.
