To mark Lillehammer Art Museum's centenary, we look back at the development of Nordic modernism over the past hundred years.

NORDIC MODERN 1920–35 is the most comprehensive interdisciplinary exhibition on Nordic modernism of the 1920s and 1930s ever presented in Norway. Bringing together painting, photography, design and architecture from a period of innovation and profound change, the exhibition explores themes that remain highly relevant today.

In the aftermath of the First World War and the collapse of old power structures, a new society emerged. It called for new forms of artistic expression that broke radically with established conventions. Optimism, democratic freedoms and new ideas inspired artists, while social and political challenges loomed on the horizon.

Developments in technology, communication and mobility also opened up entirely new possibilities for working, travelling and forming connections across national borders.

Never before had art and life been so closely intertwined. Breaking with the past, new ways of seeing the world, alternative realities and the role of the modern woman were among the themes explored by artists of the period.

The exhibition presents more than 150 works by around 100 artists, including Hilma af Klint and Otto G. Carlsund from Sweden, photographers Vilhelm Piro from Norway and Rie Nissen from Denmark, designers Nora Gulbrandsen from Norway and Poul Henningsen from Denmark, and architects Alvar and Eino Aalto from Finland.

The exhibition highlights the Nordic countries as an important part of the history of modernism, broadening the perspective beyond the traditional art centres of Berlin and Paris.