Helene Magnus: Painting silent landscapes

What brings a retired physiotherapist to embark on a second career…as an artist? The answer is passion, opportunity – and a fair share of talent. Meet Helene Magnus, a photographer turned painter.

“I got my first SLR camera when I was 52. I was a trained physiotherapist specialising in psycomotoric technique – a branch of physiotherapy developed in Norway that looks at the connection between feelings and muscle tension – and working so closely with people made me crave nature. I often took my camera and told my husband I’d be gone for an hour. He knew it wouldn’t be back before three of four hours had passed,” Magnus smiles.

Although she is soft-spoken and smiling, Magnus’ determination is striking. You do not have to speak to her for long before it becomes clear that she is guided by a clear and unequivocal desire to create. After some 20 years of photographing, next to her full-time practice as a physiotherapist, Magnus started painting. And as always, it was nature that inspired her.

“Going from a camera to the canvas might seem easy but I can assure you it was not. I had to use my creativity in a completely different way. The one thing that hasn’t changed is that nature remains at the heart of everything I do. I’m inspired by the colours, shapes and changes in the nature around me,” Magnus underlines.

Painting without an initial plan

Magnus’ painting is overwhelmingly abstract. She explains that when she starts a new painting, she has no initial plan but rather adds colour in broad strokes to the canvas, over and over again, until she sees something that she wants to keep. By use of different techniques and tools, from brushes to sponges to spatulas, knives and cloth, with a lot of water or nearly without, her landscapes come into being. Landscapes that are colourful and strong, with light that changes from one canvas to another.

“Very often what start to emerge are mountains. It is as if the mountains that I love hiking in so much, come silently towards me and onto my canvas. ‘Silent landscapes’ I suppose is the expression that best describes the kind of painting I do,” Magnus says, adding that eventually, what she is exploring with her abstract painting, are human feelings.

“I want whoever sees my paintings to see something new in them and to explore new feelings through them,” she stresses.

Vetted by fellow artists

Embarking on a new career when you are 70 years old, is not for everyone. But Magnus’ work comes with a quality assurance; she has been vetted by the Norwegian Association of Independent Artists (Norsk Forbund for Uavhengige Kunstnere, NFUK). While the association mostly admits artists who have studied art, a handful of candidates from other backgrounds are admitted each year. Helene Magnus is one of them.

“I saw an ad for NFUK on the internet, and I thought to myself, ‘let’s try’, so I sent them five of my photographs. A group of practising artists evaluated the received works. I got through the first selection, then through the second, and finally I was admitted. I was 67 at the time,” she smiles.

Today, Magnus has her own atelier at an artists’ collective at Gjøvik – a collective where 20 artists meet and work, many of them painters. She explains that the collective periodically organises an open house to acquaint the local population, as well as visitors, with their work. Magnus enjoys watching how different people approach her work.

“When it comes to photography, men are more curious than women. They ask questions, question my technique, share their impressions. But when it comes to abstract painting, women are often more open to the impressions this type of art generates,” Magnus points out.

Transmits inner peace

Magnus has exhibited both individually and collectively, but whichever it is, her work must strike a chord in the audience because her sales numbers are good – not a small feat for an abstract painter.

Perhaps the secret is that, in spite of the attraction, Magnus knows what she wants with her art.

“I want my paintings to transmit a sense of inner piece to whoever sees them – much like nature always does to me”, she says.

Web: www.helenemagnus.no
Instagram: @helenemagnus.fineart
@hema_artpainting