Book Tip – Pétur Behrens-Hestar

This book, which was published in 2016, was a real discovery for me. I enjoyed browsing from page to page and looking at horses and landscapes – adapted to the weather, the surroundings or the motif – in bright colours or dreary black and white.

In addition, it fits fantastically to the basic idea of HestaSaga, because I think it expresses the uniqueness of the Icelandic horse with its beautiful pictures in a very special way.

The author Pétur Behrens who grew up in Hamburg and studied art there is not “only” an artist but also a horse man through and through and this is exactly what you can feel in his pictures.

Already as a teenager he got to know the Icelandic horse and during his studies he travelled to the island for the first time. Iceland became the centre of his life just a few years after this first encounter. There, he worked as a breeder and rider.

One learns in the blurb that horses have always fascinated him as motifs in painting and drawing. His manifold works which have been created over the decades and are not depicted chronologically in the book prove that he has gained an intensive access to them through daily contact that has sharpened his view of their appearance and sensitized him to their essence.

His pictures testify to a deep understanding of the anatomy, movement and psyche of the horse that can only be acquired if one has the opportunity to experience and study the animals in daily contact.

Pétur Behrens shows us horses in their different habitats and moods, in their relationship to each other and to humans. In addition, he also creates motifs from the sagas. The landscape and weather conditions in which they move are brought to life by the impressive use of colour.

Each picture speaks for itself, but for those who want more information, each is accompanied by a short text in Icelandic, German and English.

It is simply a pleasure to look at Pétur Behrens’ paintings. Many of them touched me because they seem to shine into the soul of the animals.