Art from mythology of the vikings

I have been fascinated for a long time by Norse mythology. Here are some examples of my production: paintings, drawings and illustrations on the theme of Raganarök.

The beast Fenrir is running with its mouth wide open, swallowing everything that comes in its way. The upper part of its mouth reaches high up into the sky, while the bottom part touches the ground.
Odin takes a firm grip on Gugnir. Right behind Odin come his two wolves Geiri and Freki. Time has come for Odin to face his destiny. The beast runs towards Odin. Odin is swallowed by the monstrous beast.

Acrylic painting 120 X 60 cm

This could represent the victory of Christianity over paganism. But this could also be the opposite: the noble knight contemplates the fragile character crucified, desperately longing for a fading light. This knight could also be Longinus, who comes to plant his spear in the side of Christ.

The vikings saw the world as a disc floating on the sea. In the middle, Yggdrasil as an “axis mundi” making the connection with the cosmos,

An over interpretation of Viking’s cosmology… More accurate.

CHAMANIC TENT (gouache, ink and varnish)

Midgard

Painting, mixt of water color, ink and varnish

Ymir is a hermaphroditic giant and the first creature to come into being in the Norse creation narrative. Ymir birthed a male and female from the pits of his arms, and his legs together begat a six-headed being. He produced a son, Borr, who mated with Bestla, one of Ymir’s descendants. From their union came Odin and his two brothers, Vili and Ve. The brothers then slew Ymir and fashioned the cosmos from his corpse, as mentioned in the poetic Edda:

From Ymir’s flesh the earth was created,
And from his sweat [or, in some versions, blood] the sea,
Mountains from bone,
Trees from hair,
And from his skull the sky.
And from his eyebrows the blithe gods made
Midgard, home of the sons of men
And from his brains
They sculpted the grim clouds.

Gouache, ink

Snorri wrote in Gylfagining that blood of Ymir flooded the earth after his killing. All the giants were drowned except one who saved himself by floating on a lúðr. We do not know exactly what is a luðr… A piece of wood? a coffin?

Some samples of my illustrations of the Ragnarök, the Viking’s apocalypse.

This image is only part of a bigger picture from the third chapter of my book on Ragnarök. We see Lif and Leif Prasir, the couple who managed to survive the cataclysm.

Odin riding his 8 cylinders horse “Sleipnir” followed by his two wolves Geri and Freki.

The DVD recounting the misfortune of the gods, their tragic battle against demons, is finally released and available! I made the pictures, Lars Huldén wrote in Swedish the text superbly narrated by Sixten Lundberg. The editing is done by Sirpa Papinaho. Thanks to these talented people!

More informations, previews, at: http://ragnarok.e-mage.fi

   This link will lead you to  https://paypal.me/ericleraillez . Enter in the amount (16€ (including shipping charges)), and send me the payment.
Because it’s PayPal, you know, it’s  secure.
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In case you don’t have a PayPal account, you can purchase the DVD by contacting me at: eric(@)e-mage.fi  (remove the brakets) and telling me the address where to send the DVD.
Price is 16€ (including shipping charges)
FI3620631800029611
BIC NDEAFIHH
… And, of course, I wait for your comments!

The book: Ragnarök –The downfall of the Norse gods

Illustrations: Eric Leraillez, text: Helga Hilmisdóttir

Publisher www.nyhofnutgafa.com