Kai Fjell
Illustration — Kai Fjell. Kai Breder Fjell (March 2, 1907 – January 10, 1989) was a Norwegian painter, printmaker and scenographer.
Also recorded as Kai Breder Fjell
Kai Fjell

Illustrert Norsk kunstner leksikon · Public domain
- Born
- 1907 · Skoger Municipality.
- Died
- 1989 · Lysaker.
- Nationality
- Norway
- Occupation
- painter · scenographer · graphic artist
- Education
- Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry
- Honours
- Order of St. Olav
- Languages
- Norwegian
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Illustration — Kai Fjell. Kai Breder Fjell (March 2, 1907 – January 10, 1989) was a Norwegian painter, printmaker and scenographer.
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Note VALÉORINE
Kai Fjell (1907–1989) was a Norwegian graphic artist, painter and scenographer. Born in Skoger Municipality, the graphic artist died in Lysaker.
Kai Fjell studied at Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry. The graphic artist worked in Oslo and lived in Oslo Municipality.
Languages used include Norwegian. Works by Kai Fjell are held at Finnish National Gallery, Lillehammer Art Museum and National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, among others.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q1953978 · wikipedia · Kai Fjell
In this article
Personal life
Personal life
Kai Fjell studied at Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry. Mouche Thomsen is recorded as having studied under Kai Fjell. The recorded working language is Norwegian. Places of work recorded in the authority are Oslo. Residence is recorded at Oslo Municipality. Work by Kai Fjell is recorded in the collections of Finnish National Gallery, The City of Oslo Art Collection, Stenersen, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design and Lillehammer Art Museum. Distinctions recorded are Order of St.
Fjell was born on a farm in the village Skoger near Drammen. His father was a farmer and a painter, Conrad Bendiks Fjeld. His mother was a sister of Marie Hamsun. Fjell married Ingeborg Helene Holt (1907–1999) in 1931. They had two children, Sindre and Håvard Fjell.
Career
Career
Kai Fjell became a pupil of Carl von Hanno in Oslo in 1926. A year later, he enrolled at the Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts of Oslo, where his main teachers were August Eiebakke and Olaf Willums from 1929. His debut exhibition in Oslo Art Society in 1932 was largely unsuccessful. Fjell achieved immediate success with his exhibition at Kunstnernes Hus at Oslo in 1937, where all the exhibited paintings were sold. Kai Fjell early developed an ornamental expressionism. His pictures are heavily influenced by rural life and traditional Norwegian folk art. Fjell's early paintings are dominated by dark and earthy hues and often has grotesque motifs. His later works are significantly brighter, more daring in their use of colour, and tranquil in mood. He also found an outlet as a book illustrator and as a scenographer. Throughout his long career, the female figure and various fertility-symbols are recurring motifs in Fjell's pictures. Fjell's main work consists of Kalven reiser seg, Violinen and Likkjøreren on display at the Nasjonalmuseet. He was appointed Commander of the Order of St. Olav in 1976. He was active as a painter until the end of his life. Kai Fjell died in his home at Lysaker.
Selected works
Selected works
• Barnemorderske, 1934 • Likkjøreren, 1936 • Kalven reiser seg, 1936 • Under takrenna, 1936 • Modellenes hyllest, 1936 • Gratulanter, 1937 • Musikanten, 1937 • Den sunkne by, 1954
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Oslo Municipality
Residences
Skoger Municipality.
Birth place
Lysaker.
Death place
Collections and holdings
Where the work is held
Collections and holdings
Institutional holdings are recorded as follows.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1953978: Kai Fjell
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
authority file
- VIAF cluster 79539313 for Kai Fjell, aggregating national library name authorities.
General reference · OCLC
reference work
- “Kai Fjell”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Kunnskapsforlaget. (2005) Aschehoug og Gyldendals store norske ettbindsleksikon. p. 342.
- 2.Kai Fjell. Norsk Biografisk Leksikon.
- 3.Kai Fjell. Norsk Kunstnerleksikon.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1953978: Kai FjellWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessauthority file
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Born at
1- Skoger MunicipalityPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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