Bent Restorff (1922-79) is an exceptional Faroese artist. His path to art was longer than most artists, perhaps because the self-taught painter, who also worked in construction, never received formal art education. In any case, it was not until the 1970s that his career as a professional painter overtook his earlier role as an amateur—although he had already created artistically significant works before this time.

Early on, Bent Restorff was recognized as an experi-mental artist. However, he never truly found his own distinct artistic style, as even in the last ten years of his career, unexpected shifts in style can be seen. Around this time, the city of Tórshavn and the surrounding areas, particularly the harbor, became his main subject matter, often explored in multiple works as a theme with variations. This was a world he depicted both naturalistically and abstractly, at times focusing on imitation, at other times emphasizing freedom, but also with various stylistic deviations.

Many paintings from this period are broadly and skillfully sketched, but rougher and more original representations can also be seen alongside fine, carefully executed works. From time to time, the artist ventures into pure abstractions, even of a geometric nature, not to mention the expressionistic figural representations that can be found in both his earlier and later works.

The same transitional quality is evident in his use of color, where strong, warm colors suddenly emerge among the usual pale and cool pastels, and the thickness of the paint can vary. In this stylistic movement back and forth, there are also clear traces of other Faroese artists, with Poul Horsdal, Thomas Arge, and, not least, his close friend Ingálvur av Reyni being the most significant influences.

That being said, Bent Restorff is simultaneously the artist behind some of the finest coloristic paintings in Faroese art. These paintings are characterized by a cool charm and bear comparison with the best of Faroese art overall.

In summary, his work radiates joy in color in its own right, not just as a way to imitate nature.
Here, his liberated and untrained approach stands out—an approach that also led to the
very first purely abstract painting in Faroese art. In this way, Bent Restorff was an amateur in the best sense of the word.

Still Life, 1946. Oil on canvas, 66 x 64 cm. Private collection

The first entirely abstract painting in Faroese art. Half a guitar is recognizable, but otherwise the image defies our understanding. It may not be coincidental that the green, undulating shape in the center with an orange circle below it resembles a question mark. The guitar is a standard element in French Cubism, but more likely, it was a depiction of a work of abstract Surrealism that inspired Bent Restorff.

Couple by the Sea, 1953. Oil on canvas, 62 x 57 cm. Private collection

A couple by the coast—gazing out at the sun over the sea—is a motif rooted in S. J. Mikines and, before him, Edvard Munch. The sun as a life-giving force, humanity’s encounter with nature and itself, expresses a symbolist content of existential character. Contributing to this are the boat and its undertones of journey and farewell, though in a prosaic twist, it’s a modern steamship chugging along.

At Velbastaður (near Tórshavn), 1973. Oil on board, 50 x 60 cm. National Gallery of the Faroe Islands

While S. J. Mikines and Ingálvur av Reyni painted the view from Velbastaður across the strait toward Koltur, Bent Restorff moved down to the coast and instead looked up the slope toward the gables of three village houses. In doing so, he limited the sense of spatial depth in favor of modern surface painting, where a light and gentle color palette unfolds before us in a wealth of light green hues with touches of pale red and light blue. Summer atmosphere and abstraction unite in harmony.

Abstract Landscape, 1973. Oil on board, 51 x 60 cm. Private collection

Here, the landscape is transformed into a decorative surface painting of abstract character, where silhouette dominates and spatial depth is almost absent. A strong pale yellow cuts through the gray-blue and violet sections but is still not far from the pale green parts. Elegance in form and color characterizes this rare gem in Bent Restorff’s oeuvre.

Houses by a Harvested Field, 1973. Oil on board, 23.5 x 22.5 cm. Private collection

In this vibrant, tripartite landscape painting, two dark houses stand against an unknown background. One house has a greenish hue, while the other’s gable is dark gray, both resting solidly on a yellow surface that might represent a harvested field. The foreground is lush green and orange in contrast to the cold blue sky in the background.
Striking is the thickly painted yellow—impasto—section between the houses. It gleams on the roof, and the dark yellow oval in the sun-yellow foreground may be a haystack. The juicy colors—yellow and orange against green, and yellow against the ice-blue sky—are captivating. The oppositions, which hold the composition in balance, are the dark colors in the central field with the houses. A lovely, abstract landscape painting.
— Malan Marnersdóttir

Bent Restorff & Ingálvur av Reyni (1920–2005):

Village by the Sea, 1973. Oil on board, 62 x 81 cm. Private collection

This painting—done in Ingálvur’s style—is of course mostly a joke, but also a reflection of the friendship between the two artists. In 1973, when Ingálvur spent three months in Paris, Restorff was allowed to borrow his studio and could work more freely than under the constrained conditions back home. It wasn’t until 1977, two years before his death, that he got his own studio.

Houses in the Eastern Part of Tórshavn, 1973. Oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm. Private collection

Bent Restorff gave this painting to Ingálvur av Reyni in 1973, perhaps as thanks for the use of his studio that same year, when the painting was made. The houses resemble building blocks, and their cubes and roofs form a somewhat chaotic Cubist composition. In the same spirit, the almost cheerful color palette includes green, greenish-yellow, yellow-green, reddish-brown, and light blue—set against the deep blue sea and sky.

Below Skælingsfjall (on Streymoy), 1974. Oil on canvas, 50 x 65 cm. National Gallery of the Faroe Islands

The staggered rock faces at the base of the mountain are the starting point for this painting, which serves as a study in blue and violet with a touch of green and a light orange area as a contrast to all the cool tones. The abstraction is also evident in the textured painting technique, and the division into sections makes each one a small abstract universe. Our attention swings between part and whole.

Ships in the Harbor, Night, 1975. Oil on canvas, 65 x 90 cm. Private collection

The Bacalao fish factory is the background for several of Bent Restorff’s paintings of ships in Vestaravág, the central bay in Tórshavn. This night scene, with flashes of yellow and red amidst the deep blue, evokes none other than van Gogh!

Sloop in the Harbor, 1975. Oil on canvas, 55 x 75 cm. Private collection

In Bent Restorff’s harbor scenes from Vestaravág in Tórshavn, the sloop Westward Ho (still visible down there) is the centerpiece. The color palette is usually light and cool, dominated by red-violet, blue, green, and touches of yellow, and the subject is generally loosely sketched with broad brushstrokes. Here, however, the sloop is especially detailed, and the lines are more decorative. The color scheme is darker and heavier than usual. Against the dark, green-blue silhouette in the foreground, the light background in contrasting light green and pale red stands out. A little “cheeky” orange buoy bobs in the midst of the dark blue and green.

Winter Morning, Tinghusvegur in Tórshavn. 1975. Oil on canvas, 65 x 80 cm. Private collection

An example of Bent Restorff’s fearless use of color! The winter sun’s orange and yellow blaze against the houses’ dark blue and blue-violet silhouettes, combined with contrasts of light and dark. The strong color contrast goes hand in hand with broad and vigorous brushwork. Yet, the blue-green gable and lamppost introduce a certain elegance amidst the rawness.

From Tórshavn, 1976. Oil on canvas, 65 x 90 cm. Tórshavn Municipality

Sometimes reality itself invites abstraction. One example is the houses along the quay in Vágsbotn, with the cathedral in the background. If the painter zooms in enough, a surface composition emerges on its own, especially when he omits the quay and its ships. A uniform color palette contributes as well, and here, a mood of l’heure bleue (the blue hour) is evoked through the generous use of dark blue and violet.

Village, 1977. Oil on board, 23 x 25 cm. National Gallery of the Faroe Islands

A monumental painting despite its small size. Though the view is wide, the layered composition holds the motif within the picture plane. The mighty, gray-violet silhouette of the mountain stands sharply between the yellow sky and the yellow-green field. Its luminous field is intensified by the dark blue house, while the reddish-brown buildings closer to the foreground lift the juicy green field upward. The coloristic somersault lands gracefully.

Still Life, 1978. Oil on canvas, 50 x 60 cm. Private collection

From the artist’s studio? The squares resemble paintings, and the shelf in the foreground might serve as a worktable. A related painting in the exhibition is even titled The Painter’s Table (1974, National Gallery of the Faroe Islands). However, this image is primarily an abstract composition in blue, violet, turquoise, and green-blue with touches of burnt orange as a subdued counterpoint. The painting was purchased by Ingálvur av Reyni at Bent Restorff’s memorial exhibition in 1979 as a remembrance of his friend and colleague. Behind the purchase may also have been the image’s resemblance to works by the Dane Immanuel Ibsen, one of Ingálvur’s major inspirations.

Houses by a Path, 1978. Oil on canvas, 28.5 x 43.5 cm. National Gallery of the Faroe Islands

Amid the period’s cool and pale color palette, occasionally strong-colored works emerge—such as this coloristic firecracker with bold red, yellow, green, and blue on a pitch-black background. The usually broad and summary brushwork is here replaced by a rough and intense texture that transforms the peaceful scene of houses by a path and stream into an expressionist soulscape

View from Svínaryggur, 1979. Oil on canvas, 87 x 97 cm. National Gallery of the Faroe Islands

The painting shows the view down over Tórshavn, with the old cemetery in the foreground to the left and the Bacalao fish factory towering in the background above the harbor, where a massive construction crane also rises – all rendered with fine and delicate lines. The color palette is cool, dominated by bluish, and to a lesser extent greenish, tones, with a subdued contrast in the pale red and reddish-brown areas of the houses and buildings.