793–1066
The Viking Age
From about 793 to 1066, Norse sailors from Norway, Denmark and Sweden set out in their longships to raid, trade and settle. They reached England, France, Russia and Iceland, and Leif Erikson's crew landed in North America around the year 1000. Their sagas, gods and ships still capture the imagination.
Why artists painted it
Norwegian and Scandinavian painters of the 1800s used the Viking age to say who they were as new nations. Their pictures of Harald Fairhair, Leif Erikson and Odin's hunt made the sagas look as real as yesterday.
Leiv Eirikson discovering America · Christian Krohg, 1893
Leiv Eirikson discovering America
Christian Krohg · 1893
🕰️ Painted about 830 years later
Leif Erikson's crew, sailing west from Greenland around the year 1000, see the shores of North America for the first time.
The wild Hunt of Odin
Peter Nicolai Arbo · 1872
🕰️ Painted about 810 years later
Arbo shows the Norse god Odin riding across the stormy sky with his ghostly hunters.
Valkyrie
Peter Nicolai Arbo · 1865
🕰️ Painted about 800 years later
A Valkyrie, one of Odin's warrior-maidens in Norse myth, gallops over the battlefield to choose the bravest fighters.
Thor's Fight with the Giants
Mårten Eskil Winge · 1872
🕰️ Painted about 810 years later
Thor swings his hammer at the giants in a story every Viking child knew.
The Fall of King Olav at the Battle of Stiklestad
Peter Nicolai Arbo · 1859
🕰️ Painted about 790 years later
King Olav II falls at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030.
The Battle of Stamford Bridge
Peter Nicolai Arbo · 1870
🕰️ Painted about 800 years later
In 1066 King Harald Hardrada of Norway, the last great Viking king, is killed in a battle against the English at Stamford Bridge.
Harald Fairhair in the Battle of Hafrsfjord
Hansen 'Ole Peter' Balling · 1870
🕰️ Painted about 800 years later
Harald Fairhair wins the sea battle of Hafrsfjord around the year 872, a victory the sagas say united Norway under one king.
The Battle of Svolder
Otto Sinding · 1883
🕰️ Painted about 820 years later
At the sea battle of Svolder in the year 1000, King Olav Tryggvason's famous ship the Long Serpent was surrounded by enemy ships.
Olav Tryggvason's Arrival in Norway
Peter Nicolai Arbo · 1860
🕰️ Painted about 790 years later
Olav Tryggvason sails back to Norway in 995 to take the throne, and the sagas say he then pushed his people to become Christian.
The Captured King Gryting Is Brought Before King Harald
Erik Werenskiold · 1899
🕰️ Painted about 830 years later
The conquered king Gryting is brought before Harald Fairhair in a scene from the Viking sagas.
Guests from Overseas
Nicholas Roerich · 1901
🕰️ Painted about 840 years later
Viking-age traders, called Varangians, sail a dragon-headed ship into a Slavic harbor in this glowing scene.
Olav Tryggvason and Sigrid the Haughty
Mårten Eskil Winge · 1868
🕰️ Painted about 800 years later
According to a saga, King Olav Tryggvason asks the proud Swedish queen Sigrid to marry him and become Christian, she refuses, and he strikes her with his glove.
Ragnar Lodbrok and Kráka
August Malmström · 1880
🕰️ Painted about 810 years later
The famous Viking hero Ragnar Lodbrok sits beside his clever wife Kráka in this scene from the Norse sagas.