Ørnulf Opdahl

Ørnulf Opdahl: sea, mountains and the picture surface

Ørnulf Opdahl, born in Ålesund in 1944, is a Norwegian painter and printmaker. The coast of Sunnmøre provides a central foundation for his experience. He depicts mountains and sea, and explores how weather, light and darkness transform the experience of landscape. His pictures move between recognisable nature and abstract surfaces.

A development through different approaches

Opdahl studied at the Norwegian National School of Arts and Crafts and the National Academy of Fine Arts. During the 1960s he worked in watercolour and gouache among other media. Small forms and signs could suggest an imaginary underwater world. His exhibition at Permanenten in Oslo in 1968 marked a breakthrough. Oil painting and larger formats subsequently gained importance.

In 1971 he returned to Sunnmøre and settled on Godøy. His development led through dreamlike and symbolic figure paintings to a clearer concentration on western Norwegian nature around 1990. In several phases, people appeared as small witnesses to greater natural forces. Opdahl was professor at the National Academy of Fine Arts from 1985 to 1992.

Landscape as material and experience

Oseana's collection text describes pronounced surfaces built up with sand and cement in parts of his work, treated with glazes and other materials. In Lys over fjellet of 1998, grey, white and black fields suggest both painted surfaces and mountains and darkness. This material account covers parts of his practice; it cannot determine an unknown picture's technique.

In his own presentation at Nils Aas Kunstverksted, Opdahl relates his subjects to Godøy, Hjørundfjorden and the coastal and marine areas westwards. Seasons and weather form part of the content, beyond providing a backdrop to a topographic view. An Opdahl landscape need not depict a place as it would appear in a photograph.

Marine research and print projects

In 2004 he joined the Mar-Eco expedition to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Iceland and the Azores. The Research Council of Norway's interview documents a month spent with the scientists and drawings subsequently published in a book. His interest in the sea thus extends below its surface, beyond the visible coastline.

In the project Tre reiser. Tre landskap, Opdahl worked alongside Queen Sonja and Kjell Nupen. Nasjonalmuseet's exhibition archive records 24 intaglio prints, eight works by each participant. This counts the project's works, rather than establishing an edition of 24 impressions. The archive states that the tour has ended.

His practice has continued through more recent exhibitions. Galleri Haaken's Hjemstavn in 2025 included Det skjulte lyset from the same year. It documents an ongoing exploration of his home region and landscape, supplementing the historical biographies.

Buying, selling and assessment

Opdahl's oil paintings, watercolours and prints require descriptions based on the individual object. Establish the technique before calling a sheet a lithograph or intaglio print. A printed rendering of a painting is a reproduction; a signature visible in the image does not demonstrate hand signing. Edition size, printer and any later editions require documentation for the particular print.

Photograph the front, reverse, inscriptions and labels, and record dimensions and previous owners. Distinguish intentional texture from cracking, flaking and other damage. For works on paper, fading, moisture marks and framing are relevant. A biography or resemblance of subject cannot authenticate an individual work.

Contact OBA about selling and assessment (Norwegian page).

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