A new retrospective in Oslo is shining a light on the paradoxical life and work of Tom Sandberg, the photographer who became Norway's most celebrated artist in the medium. The exhibition, Tom Sandberg: Vibrant World, reveals a man whose calm, reflective images existed in stark contrast to his own reckless and tumultuous life.
The Alchemy of the Darkroom
Sandberg's journey into photography began with a moment of childhood magic. Born in Narvik in 1953, he moved to Oslo where his father worked as a photojournalist. His father first introduced him to the darkroom, exposing the young Tom's hand onto photo paper. "He was immediately smitten by that alchemical magic and never looked back," recalls art historian and friend Torunn Liven. This foundational experience cemented a lifelong obsession with the photographic process, where he would later experiment extensively with materials and retouching.
After his father left the family, Sandberg helped his mother raise his sister in a tough Oslo suburb. He later honed his craft studying photography at what is now Nottingham Trent University in the mid-1970s, under the tutelage of the American photographer Minor White. Upon returning to Oslo, he became the in-house photographer at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, capturing art events and creating stark, monumental portraits of visitors like composer John Cage and artist Christo.
A Life of Contrasts: Serene Art, Wild Soul
Sandberg's photographic style is defined by its contemplative stillness. His images often feature wet Norwegian streets, puddles, rain-dappled windows, and solitary figures, rendered in bold chiaroscuro or subtle gradations of grey. They possess a dreamlike, uplifting quality, transforming the mundane into the poetic.
Yet the man behind the lens lived a life of intense unrest. Described by former assistant and co-curator Morten Andenæs as a "wild soul," Sandberg was known for his charisma, huge social capacity, and periods of significant alcohol and substance abuse. "He would periodically go on benders," Andenæs notes. This recklessness fuelled a self-mythologising persona. He famously claimed to dream in black and white, and rumours swirled around the missing piece of his ear—a mystery he seemed to enjoy cultivating.
"He loved myth-making," says Andenæs. "Like, was it a woman who bit off his ear? That kind of stuff." Despite this, his commitment to his work was absolute. "He didn't take himself seriously but he took his work very seriously. It was how he dealt with existential issues," Andenæs explains. Sandberg himself believed that without photography, he would have "probably go[ne] to the hounds."
Legacy and a Vibrant Retrospective
The exhibition at Henie Onstad, co-curated by Morten Andenæs and Susanne Østby Sæther, spans four decades of work, from the 1970s to just before his death in 2014 at age 60. It is the first major show since his passing and features loans from prestigious collections like the Norwegian National Museum and the Tangen Collection.
The show includes his almost cinematic, large-format prints, from noirish airport interiors to intimate studies of his young daughter, Marie, whom he photographed as a whirl of blonde hair. Marie, now 30 and managing his estate, sees these images as a form of self-portraiture. "I think he saw a lot of himself in me," she says, recalling how a simple trip to the tram could take hours as he stopped to capture the world around them.
Sandberg's legacy is one of profound influence, having been pivotal in establishing photography as a serious art form in the Nordic region. His work achieved international recognition, including a solo show at MoMA Ps1 in New York in 2007. The retrospective seeks to pass on his meticulous, intuitive approach to a new generation, with workshops planned for local teenagers to encourage slow, considered image-making in the digital age.
The exhibition features only one image of Sandberg himself: a 2001 self-portrait where he sits like an unnoticed security guard in an empty room—a fittingly enigmatic glimpse of a man who mastered the art of contradiction. Tom Sandberg: Vibrant World runs at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Oslo until 1 March 2026.
