The term “Fin de siècle” designates tendencies in literature and visual art in Europe, and was mentioned for the first time in the French journal Le Decadent in 1886. Fin de sieclé implicates an expectation for change when a century -but also an epoch - is going towards its end.

The end of the 19th century was distinguished by enormous expansion within technology, medicine and communication. Paris was the metropolis, and represented the modern urban life, where phenomena as haute couture and the “flaneur” - “to see and to be seen” was exposed on boulevards and cafés. In art we find a presence of bored approach to existence, where escape from reality, extreme aestheticism, elegance and up-to-date decadence was focused on.

The “Fin de siècle” motif in Edvarda’s production is strongly represented in her two latest paintings, “Cocoon” (2009) and “Melting Pot” (2010). The women as objects, inspired by today’s fashion-industry, is similar to that age of Poster Art. It´s line-routing and clear colours, mixed with letters and messages are very much alike how Edvarda arranges and creates her paintings. Japanese erotisism was a trend of that time, and artists were inspired by oriental art and myth. In Edvarda’s art, this is represented by her fascination for Japanese art-photography and her use of multicultural references.

Narcissism as protective strategy is also one of the thematic points of contact that define the atmosphere of Fin de sieclé in Edvarda’s production. The sensation of degradation and moral decline, melted with hope an expectations for something new, is also features in our contemporary time, and absolutely expressed in Edvardas monumetal pictorial scenarios.

The most profound artist of Fin de siecle was the author Oscar Wilde, the poet Stephané Mallarmé, the painter Henri- Toulouse Lautrec and the drawer Aubrey Beardsley.”

Text by Ingrid Pettersen