Art Weekend at Hotel Breiseth
10–11 January 2026
Welcome to a weekend filled with art, insight, and storytelling at the historic Hotel Breiseth in Lillehammer, the very place where many of Norway’s most influential artists once gathered to paint, discuss ideas, and shape our national artistic identity.
Through this lecture series, Norwegian art history serves as a framework for understanding the Lillehammer painters: who they were, why they came together here, and how their art emerged from broader European influences. We explore how French and Norwegian Naturalism laid the foundation for many of these artists, how Fredrik Collett and Frits Thaulow found inspiration along the Mesna River, and how Thorvald Eriksen brought Impressionism right into the rooms and walls of Breiseth.
We follow the development through the Vågå Summer and artists such as Kristen Holbø and others who carried the legacy forward, creating a distinctly Norwegian visual language inspired by both French light and the Norwegian landscape. We encounter Lars Jorde, who connected generations and helped establish Lillehammer as an artistic hub. Finally, we look at Henrik Sørensen and Jean Heiberg, who brought impulses from Matisse and Modernism to the Gudbrandsdalen region and into Norwegian art history.
The weekend features engaging lectures, visual presentations, and conversations in authentic surroundings, combined with good food, professional enrichment, and social gatherings at a hotel that was itself a living part of art history.
As a fitting conclusion, we gather for Afternoon Tea in the venerable dining room at Hotel Breiseth, while hearing the story of the Lillehammer painters at Breiseth — allowing our thoughts to wander back to a time when artists lived, worked, and shaped their lives right here.
Time:
Saturday 10 January, 10:00–16:00
Sunday 11 January, 10:00–16:00
Venue:
Hotel Breiseth, Lillehammer
Join us for a weekend that places the Lillehammer painters within the grand narrative of Norwegian art — and lets you experience the history where it actually took place.
Price: NOK 2,500
The price includes refreshments in the meeting room, lunch on Saturday, and Afternoon Tea on Sunday.
Registration:
Hilde Fauskerud
Email: hil_fau@hotmail.com
Phone: +47 48 09 98 61
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