Collection: Karen Aarre

Karen Aarre (b. London 1972) is an Oslo-based artist. She has studied at the Faculdade das Belas Artes, University of Lisbon, Portugal, and at the Vrije Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten, in The Hague, The Netherlands. She also holds a doctorate (DPhil) in social anthropology from the University of Oxford, UK. She has been purchased by the Natural History Museum, Oslo, Coleccao Fundacao Dom Luis 1, Coleccao Câmera de Cascais, the Children's Department at Rikshospitalet, Oslo, and Queen Sonja's Art Gallery. In 2020, she made her book debut as an illustrator of the picture book "PINNSVIN" written by Henrik Hovland (Ena Forlag).

Aarre works with painting, drawing and graphics in a figurative language. She is particularly interested in botanical art and horticulture, and has recently completed an exhibition trilogy on this theme ("Botanica" 2019, "Florilegium" 2020 and "Horticultura" 2022). Aarre also works with portraiture, and recently showed a series of artist portraits at Edvard Munch's studio in Oslo (2022). She has also participated in the prestigious Nordic portrait prize exhibition "Portræt nu!" at Fredrikborg Castle in 2019 and 2021.

Aarre is a member of Norwegian Visual Artists (NBK), Visual Artists in Oslo (BO) and the National Association of Norwegian Painters (LNM).