Sylvia Sleigh was born in Wales, and spent most of her life in New York. She established herself as an artist during the emergence of feminism in the early '70s, with her bold interpretations of old masters such as Eugène Delacroix and Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.

Sylvia Sleighs collection of motifs, which was mainly figurative, made her less salient than her contemporaries who worked within trends such as pop art and abstract impressionism. However, her focus on what up until recently have been considered traditional choices of motifs, portait and still life, should be able to engage and inspire artists and visitors alike today.

This is the first time Sylvia Sleigh's paintings are on display in Norway.