A trip back in time Visiting Theodor Kittelsen’s artist villa, Lauvlia, is like stepping into a time machine. Nestled in between the birch trees, overlooking the gorgeous Soneren lake, it makes the perfect setting for a Sunday outing. By Lisa Maria Berg | Photos: Th. Kittelsens kunstnerhjem Lauvlia
Theodor Kittelsen (1857-1914) is the man who truly gave Norwegian folk tales their image. His paintings of trolls have come to be the Norwegian idea of ‘what they really looked like’. The artist was spotted at an early age as a remarkable talent with a palette and a brush. Growing up under quite impoverished conditions, he was lucky enough to receive funding from a private donor to go to Munich to study. It was there that he began the journey of finding his unique style, which came to be so beloved. 100 | Issue 127 | August 2019
It wasn’t until in later years that he, together with the love of his life, Inga, built Lauvlia. “The couple described their time at Lauvlia as the happiest ten years of their lives. It was also the artist’s most productive time, in terms of the amount of work he produced out of the atelier there,” explains Lillian Holm, general manager at the historic villa.
A house built on love Lauvlia finds itself nestled just on the edge of the Soneren lake in Sigdal, no
more than a 30-minute drive from the popular Blaafarverket – a former cobalt mine, now turned museum – in the idyllic Buskerud county. It was on an afternoon drive that the Kittelsens came