In 2022, Berntson Vit set up a “pilot” residency at Claestorp, west of Stockholm. At the estate, which has been in the same family for more than 500 years, owners Jan and Cecilia Lewenhaupt hosted Norwich-born abstract painter Jessie Stevenson, whose vast expressive canvases are inspired by the landscape around her. This summer, Berntson Bhattacharjee organised another homestay for Stevenson in the former hunting lodge owned by gallery manager Holly MacDonald’s parents in Glenelg, in the Scottish Highlands.
For artists, a residency offers “space to take you out of the hamster wheel”, suggests Berntson Vit.
