Harriet Backer (1845-1932) is one of the most recognised Norwegian painters of the late 1800s and early 1900s. She is celebrated for her paintings of interiors which explore the effects of light and colour.
H. Backer was born into a trading family in Holmestrand, in Southern Norway. In 1857 the family moved to Christiania (Oslo). Between 1860 and 1874 she attended women’s painting classes run by Johan Fredrik Eckersberg (1822-1870) and later those led by Knud Bergslien (1827-1908). In this period H. Backer produced her first original paintings, including Lille Rødhette [Little Red Riding Hood, 1872]. Between 1866 and 1871, H. Backer accompanied her sister to Germany and Italy where the artist was able to study antique and Renaissance art first-hand.
To further her formal artistic training, H. Backer travelled to Munich in 1874, one of the leading centres for artistic education specialising in genre, figure and history painting. Although women were not accepted into the academy at that time, she received private instruction from some of the best painters from the art academy. It was during her years in Munich that she also formed friendships with Norwegian painters Kitty Lange Kielland (1843-1914) and Eilif Peterssen (1852-1928).

Between 1878-1888 H. Backer lived in Paris, a stay that proved highly influential. Here she received instruction from the painters Léon Bonnat (1833-1922) and Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) and began to focus on the effects of light and colour. Her first major work of this period is Andante (1881), which shows her classical training and an early influence of Impressionism. H. Backer’s painting Blått Interiør [Blue Interior, 1883] is often seen as the first work to display her mature style using a build-up of brushstrokes to portray the properties of light and colour. The painting is also characteristic of her choice of subject matter: relaxed scenes from everyday life set in sparse interiors of the Parisian bourgeoisie or rural Norway. In Paris she received her first commendations for painting. At the Salon of 1880 she exhibited the Solitude (1878-1880), which received an honourable mention. In 1889 she won a silver medal at the World Exhibition in Paris for her painting Chez Moi (1887).

In 1888 H. Backer returned permanently to Norway. Between 1890 and 1912 she ran her own art school in Christiania, teaching painting and life drawing. Her students included Charlotte Wankel (1888-1969) and Ragnhild Kaarbø (1889-1949). H. Backer’s later works focus on the Norwegian landscape, interiors (particularly churches) and still lives. Examples of this later period are Barnedåp i Tanum Kirke [Christening at Tanum Church, 1892], Interiør, Grihamar Gård [Interior at Grihama Farm, 1919] and Landskap fra Bærum [Landscape at Bærum, 1890], all of which demonstrate a use of short, loose brushstrokes to capture the effect of light.

H. Backer’s talent was recognised during her lifetime. She exhibited her work in solo exhibitions and received several awards. In 1925 she was made a Knight of the Order of St. Olav. Her works can be found in the National Museum of Norway and the Rasmus Meyer Collection in Bergen, Norway.