– I have been wearing high-heeled shoes for a week now. And it shows! Queen Sonja smiles. On the high heels, she stands firmly in the middle of the large, open space in the gallery Sandgrund in Karlstad, Sweden. The entrance is decorated with flowers in red, white and blue and in yellow and blue. The, for the occasion, blue carpet has been rolled out. Outside, residents are getting ready for the midsummer celebration this hot June day. With flowers in their hair, they walk along the Klarälven, one of Sweden’s longest rivers, which flows slowly past the gallery. Ready for midsummer celebration in Karlstad. Photo: Vilde Helljesen / news Queen Sonja is standing inside the panoramic windows. Just a few days before she turns 85, the pace is high. Nine assignments in one week. New speeches almost every day. From the all – night gala dinner to celebrate Princess Ingrid Alexandra’s 18th birthday, to the large – scale art award ceremony and art seminar. The hectic week ends in Karlstad. – Now I’m a little tired, the queen says with a laugh. – But am very happy to be here, she adds. Queen Sonja made her debut as an artist late in life, but has managed to exhibit several times. Pictures she has made are now displayed in the gallery Sandgrund in Karlstad throughout the summer. Photo: Vilde Helljesen / news «S» for Sonja The gallery is adorned with large jars, ceramics and several colorful pictures. The queen stands for both visual art and jars in the exhibition. Photo: Vilde Helljesen / news Orange, yellow, royal blue. The simple signature “S” in the bottom right corner of the photos reveals that the artist is the queen herself. In addition to still being in full-time work as Norway’s queen, Queen Sonja has in recent years also devoted more time to her great passion. – The challenge is to get a few days off from time to time. Unfortunately, it will not be as much as I would like. But it’s very nice with the days you can concentrate only on that. With an “S”, Queen Sonja has signed the pictures she has made with Lars Lerin. Photo: Vilde Helljesen / news The Queen looks around the gallery. – To have four or five days with it is worth its weight in gold. To be allowed to let go of everything else and just concentrate on one thing. That’s what keeps one going, I think. That you have something to look forward to in that way from time to time. Breathing hole. Queen Sonja is passionate about art, both as an art collector and as a performing artist. Photo: Vilde Helljesen / news Watercolor champion on the team In several of the pictures in the gallery in Karlstad, there is one more name next to the S: Lars Lerin. Lars Lerin describes the collaboration with the queen as very rewarding and inspiring. Photo: Vilde Helljesen / news The Swedish, quiet man with the light, slightly tousled hair is one of the world’s most renowned watercolor painters. – Ah, I tried to turn off this “devil” here, says Lerin and takes the mobile phone out of his pocket. It is busy just a few hours before the exhibition opens. Lerin laughs a little gently. Apologies and turns off the ringtone. For a week this winter, Queen Sonja and Lerin found time to shut out the outside world and immerse themselves in the artistic work. Queen Sonja and Lars Lerin at work at the graphics workshop in Asker this winter. Photo: Tor Einar Krogtoft-Jensen In the graphics workshop Trafo in Asker, the collaboration took shape. A common love for Northern Norway, especially Lofoten – where Lerin herself has lived for many years – laid the foundation for the pictures and copper graphics the two have now made together. – We got along well and had fun working together. We worked from morning to night, and it went very well, says Lerin to news. – It is based a lot on respect for each other. I think it went very easily with the queen. When I worked there, I did not think it was a queen I was working with. It “floated on”, and we wanted to see how the pictures turned out, so it drove us forward. Common love for Northern Norway has resulted in the photo series «Lofoten». Photo: Vilde Helljesen / news The collaboration has become the photo series «Lofoten» and will be shown this summer at Sandgrund, Lerin’s gallery in Karlstad. When Queen Sonja turns 85 on Monday, it will also be with Northern Norway as a backdrop. The day will be celebrated privately on holiday on the Helgeland coast. – You can not believe that she turns 85 when you interact with her and work with her. She has so much energy, says Lerin. Queen Sonja and Lars Lerin enjoyed working together. Here is the queen during the exhibition opening in Lars Lerin’s gallery Sandgrund, together with Lerin’s husband Junior. Photo: Vilde Helljesen / news The legacy of the artist queen The profit from the sale from the exhibition goes to Queen Sonja’s foundation, the artist scholarship QSPA (Queen Sonja Print Award). Her dream of supporting artists has since the award was established in 2011 grown into the world’s largest award for graphic art. Just a few days before she went to the exhibition opening in Karlstad, colleagues, friends and family gathered for a large-scale pandemic-delayed ten-year celebration of QSPA. The QSPA Inspirational Award went this year to the Sami artist Meerke Vekterli. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB – I think we have come a long way. But we must move on, says Queen Sonja. – And what I hope for QSPA, is that we have made a solid foundation, so it can live on even when I am not here. That it will have an even wider audience and delight even more people, that the graphics are really understood and appreciated and to the delight of as many as possible. The sanctuary While Queen Sonja has carried with her the interest in art and the creative all her life, she was 74 years old when she made her debut as an artist and exhibited in 2011. She describes art as an invaluable source of joy, inspiration and good health. For her, art has not only been important personally, but also to be able to fill the role of queen. – It is the place where you have your own sanctuary. And it means a lot to all people to find the right refuge. So I have been lucky with art – and nature, of course, says Queen Sonja. If art has had enormous significance for the Queen herself, she also has great significance for art in Norway, says Solveig Øvstebø, director of the Astrup Fearnley Museum. She describes a queen who goes to as many exhibitions as she can, who wants to meet artists, ask questions and go in depth and understand the background and process behind a work of art. – She means a lot to Norwegian art. She is an ally of us who work in the field of art. She is a fantastic art communicator, and she is a champion of the role of art in society, says Øvstebø. Although Queen Sonja made her debut as an artist herself, she has been an art collector since her teens. A lifelong love story. The day before she went to Karlstad, she was present at the opening of the exhibition “Open Doors” in the Art Stable at the Palace in Oslo. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB Over 100 private photos have been taken down from royal walls and exhibited in public. Queen Sonja has bought contemporary art since she was young and today owns around 1600 works. – She has gathered with her heart, says curator Sune Norgren. Moved grandmother: – Ingrid manages this wonderfully «I hope you always want your own rooms where you can feel completely free, where you can get nourishment, rest and inspiration – as I have throughout my life had it in nature, especially in the mountains , and in art. ” Queen Sonja described Princess Ingrid Alexandra as a tough guy when she spoke to her during the celebration of the princess’ 18th birthday. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB The queen turned to the 18-year-old, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, when she spoke to her granddaughter during the gala dinner at the Palace. Queen Sonja had to learn the art of being queen herself. Now she sees a new generation growing up. She is moved when we ask about her who follows. – It gives an incredible joy and confidence to Ingrid, it’s clear. She manages this beautifully, says the queen. Queen Sonja first stopped by Galleri Sandgrund to see the exhibition of her own art and pictures she has made together with Lars Lerin, for the first time … Photo: Vilde Helljesen / news … before she returned to be after a quick change of outfit with the opening. She was warmly received by Lars Lerin himself … Photo: Vilde Helljesen / news … and his children, who gave the queen a good hug. Photo: Vilde Helljesen / news Photo: Vilde Helljesen / news
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Queen Sonja turns 85 – surprises with new projects – Norway
