Jonas Lie (1880–1940)

Norwegian-born American painter and teacher. Created by: PICRYL - Public Domain Media Search Engine Dated: 1880

Jonas Lie (1880–1940) was a Norwegian-born American painter. He is best known for colorful paintings of coastlines of New England and city scenes of New York City.

Jonas Lie often depicted the sea, channels, and ships with dramatic perspective and powerful use of color. He became known for colorful impressionistic scenes of harbors & coves, painted during the many summers he spent on the coasts of New England & Canada. Throughout his prolific career he painted brilliantly colored images of the rocky coves and harbors that identify the region’s dramatic shoreline. Lie painted a landscape mural in honor of his wife, Sonia, in the sanctuary of the First Unitarian Society of Plainfield, New Jersey in 1929. It is inscribed, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.”

Lie was a member of various art organizations including the Salmagundi Club and was active in the National Academy of Design. Paintings of Jonas Lie are on exhibit at art museums throughout the United States including at Utah Museum of Fine Arts; Cornell Fine Arts Museum; Phoenix Art Museum; San Diego Museum of Art; Corcoran Gallery of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Brooklyn Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; High Museum of Art; the Detroit Institute of Arts and at the Memorial Art Gallery.

1849
1979