Astri Welhaven Heiberg
1881–1967 · Norwegian painter of female nudes and landscapes
Astri Welhaven Heiberg (Kristiania, 14 December 1881 – 26 May 1967) was a Norwegian painter best known for her portraits of female nudes and for her landscapes. She came from a family closely connected to key figures of Norwegian cultural life, which shaped both her training and her entry into the art world.
Her father, Hjalmar Welhaven, was an architect and later castle manager for Oscar II, and her mother, Margrethe Backer Welhaven, was also a painter. Her sister Sigri was a sculptor, and her aunt Harriet Backer, one of Norway's greatest painters, taught her from 1902 to 1907. During those years she gained much experience in painting nudes and absorbed her aunt's strict discipline and work ethic.
In 1907 she married the architect Christen Fritzner Heiberg, and the couple moved to New York. She debuted at the Autumn Exhibition in Oslo in 1912 and had work accepted there eight times over the following decade. She received the Henrichsen Grant in 1916 and 1917 and lived in Asker from 1916 to 1924, after which she settled in Oslo while keeping her ties to Asker.
Her most distinctive works are the so-called uteakter, outdoor nudes of women in landscapes, of which about twelve were probably painted by 1922. During the 1920s she increasingly accepted commissioned portraits, including ones of King Haakon VII and Crown Princess Märtha. Around 150 of her paintings can be documented, and they remain in most Norwegian public collections.