Queen Sonja at 85: Norway’s Patron of the Arts

This Monday 4th July, HM Queen Sonja of Norway (wife of King Harald V) celebrated her 85th birthday. It comes just weeks after Princess Ingrid Alexandra (second in line) celebrated her 18th birthday. After over fifty years in the royal family – as crown princess and queen consort – Sonja shows no signs of slowing, either professionally or personally. When it comes to the visual arts, indeed, for Sonja there’s no distinction between the professional and the private. A printmaker, she held exhibitions in 2011 and 2013 with artists Kjell Nupen and Ørnulf Opdahl. That follows the establishment of her music prize in 1988, and precedes the reconfiguration of the Royal Palace stables, to accommodate what’s now the Queen Sonja Art Stable. Elsewhere in Oslo, part of her sitting for Andy Warhol, when Sonja was crown princess, can be seen at the Nasjonalmuseet and Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art. With engagements in Oslo, Norway’s vast bank of art and artists means Sonja is also frequently sent abroad to open exhibitions: most recently in London and Paris, for key shows on the work of Edvard Munch, Nikolai Astrup and Harald Sohlberg.

A selection of HM Queen Sonja of Norway’s own art

On Monday 20th June, I attended the biannual Queen Sonja Print Awards in Oslo. Hosted by actor Kåre Conradi, and held at the Munch Museum, it saw Queen Sonja present three distinctions: to the winner, Franco-Moroccan Yto Burrata, to the winner of an ‘Inspirational Award’, Meerke Laimi Thomasson Vekterli, and to the winner of a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’, South African William Kentridge. Invited frequently on stage (at one point even dancing), and arriving unceremonially for drinks beforehand, Sonja’s excitement shone through. Clearly, she’s passionate not only for her own art, but for the art of others. With nominees flying in for the two-day event, the QSPA has now expanded to include a residency in Helsinborg, Sweden, and Sonja will be back to talk to delegates at the Nasjonalmuseet the next day. The award began in 2011: the same year Sonja started the Queen Sonja Nordic Art Award. I sit next to an NRK documentary team, putting together a tribute for her birthday. There’s surely no better place, I think, than here: a tribute to Sonja’s determination to support and inspire ambitious artists on the international art scene.

We wish Queen Sonja a very happy 85th birthday.

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It all started on one evening with three friends…