The Weidemann painting Mai

Jakob Weidemann's painting Mai measures 16 x 6 meters and is by far the largest painting the artist has painted.

The artwork was commissioned by the Friends of the Sandvig Collectors for the main wall in the old Maihaugsalen in 1967, and is usually only seen as a background on the stage in the Maihaugsalen at certain events.

This summer, the monumental work of art in Maihaugsalen will be available to the public every day from 17 June to 15 August. It is happening in connection with the exhibition Kinds of Blue - Jakob Weidemann 1942-1957, which is being shown at the Lillehammer Art Museum on the occasion of the artist's 100th anniversary.

On four Wednesdays in the summer, you can also join a special tour of the painting Mai.

About the artwork

Over the course of about four months in 1967, Weidemann mastered the almost 100 m2 format in an intensive creative process. Despite the great technical challenges, he managed to maintain the effect of liveliness and spontaneity.

The viewer's gaze is drawn from the center with countless small shapes via expansive gestures and divergent color surfaces to the sides of the canvas and from there back to the center and thus remains in constant dynamic movement.

Mai is a typical example of Weidemann's abstract-expressive phase after 1963, where his paintings are dominated by marked gestures and open surfaces. Color choice is typical for this phase in his artistry. This is also the time for his greatest successes, not only in Norway, but also internationally.

Weidemann and Lillehammer

In 1954, Jakob Weidemann married the journalist Anne Marie Frøisland (1921–2010), who had grown up in Lillehammer. At the very beginning of the work process, Weidemann wrote the name of his wife Anne in large letters on the canvas at the top left of the center. This mental reference point remained visible until the end of the work.

Today, the picture is inextricably linked to the couple's move from Oslo to Lillehammer. While Jakob was working on the picture, Anne discovered the small farm Ringsveen which served as a happy home for the married couple from 1968 for more than three decades, until the end of their lives.

• Included in the museum ticket 
• Buy ticket so both Maihaugen and Lillehammer Art Museum and get a 25 % discount.