About
Swedish-born Norwegian figurative painter who founded the Kitsch Movement in painting. He grew great inspiration from Rembrandt and Caravaggio.
Before Fame
He attended the Dusseldorf Art Academy but never finished. His actual education came from studying the old masters and copying their technique.
Trivia
He wrote a manifesto "On Kitsch," which embraced sentimental and archetypal imagery.
Family Life
He had a complex and troubled relationship with his parents. His mother left the family for a time to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology, causing him to feel abandoned and unwanted, and he found out later on that his father was not his birth parent. Rather, he had been born as a result of an affair his mother had conducted with former beau David Sandved.
Associated With
David Bowie bought two of his paintings, one of which was "Dawn."
