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Twilight
Artist	Odd Nerdrum
Year	1981
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	198 cm × 260 cm (78 in × 100 in)
Location	Private collection

Twilight (Norwegian: Skumring) is a 1981 painting by the Norwegian artist Odd Nerdrum. It depicts a woman defecating in a forest clearing. Nerdrum presented the painting as a "tribute to the natural, the true human being whom we all fear".

The painting was rejected by Høstutstillingen in 1981, along with all other submissions in a similar figurative style, which created media reactions in Norway. According to the jury president Per Kleiva, it was rejected solely because of a lack of technical accomplishment, and not because the subject was seen as controversial. It was instead exhibited at the gallery Blomqvist Kunsthandel, together with rejected paintings by other artists.

It was reviewed in Aftenposten, where the critic described it as shocking and unappetizing. Nerdrum replied: "I certainly don't mean to shock, but I don't want to conceal any part of reality."

Joseph Beuys, who had been Nerdrum's teacher at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, described Twilight as "possibly the most radical" painting he knew of. Twilight has been described as the start of a new course in Nerdrum's oeuvre, where he abandoned the political and social themes that had dominated his works in the 1970s.

References

1. Nerdrum, Odd; Vine, Richard; Bullard, Edgar John (1994). Odd Nerdrum, the drawings. New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art. p. 10.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. "Historikk" (in Norwegian). Høstutstillingen. Archived from the original on 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
3. Christiansen, Ann (2013-09-13). ""Humbug" "Infantilt" "Uappetittlig"". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-02-18. Jeg mener slett ikke å sjokkere, men jeg vil ikke fortie noen del av virkeligheten.
4. Flor, Harald (2001-11-05). ""Rembrandts reinkarnasjon"". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-02-18. det muligens mest radikale
5. Nerdrum, Odd; Pettersson, Jan Åke (1998). Odd Nerdrum: storyteller and self-revealer. Oslo: Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art; Aschehoug. p. 42. ISBN 9788203222726.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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