Gunnar Berg was born in Svolvær on 21 May 1863 as the eldest in a family of twelve. His father was merchant Lars Thodal Walnum Berg, who owned half of Svolvær and had his domicile at Svinøya. Gunnar showed early on that he had good skills in drawing, but as the eldest son, it was natural that he should take over the business when his father thanked by. 12 years old Gunnar began at the Cathedral School in Trondheim, while he went in drawing and painting learn. In autumn 1882 he started business school in Bergen. Art Painter Adelsteen Normann who was a good friend of LTW Berg, however, had seen the great abilities the young Gunnar had. Now he gave his father the advice to let Gunnar begin at art school in Germany. L.T.W. Berg, who was a skilled draftsman and painter, realized that there was no use fighting back. And with his father's blessing Gunnar left the trade school in Bergen and traveled to Düsseldorf in February 1883. Gunnar Berg had decided. He would be the Lofoten painter, and in 1887 he built, with parental help, a studio at home on Svinøya. In the years that followed Gunnar traveled a lot, and he studied in both Berlin and Paris. But in the fishing season and in the summer he was usually home in Svolvaer, where he used the sketchbook and camera diligently. Gunnar Berg participated in his first exhibition in Düsseldorf in 1887. He got a brilliant critique, and in the following years he was represented by a series of exhibitions at home and abroad. At home, he held his first separate exhibition in Kristiania in 1889, where his 146 exhibited paintings and drawings were well received. Gunnar's earliest paintings are influenced by his stay in Dusseldorf. Typical for this school was dark, brownish undertones. But elsewhere in Germany and in Paris had outdoor painting eluded. In his travels Gunnar was affected by this and his later paintings are lighter in tone and also have a greater freshness. Already in his youth was Gunnar Berg bothered by pain in the right leg. In 1887 he operated the first time, and after several subsequent operations were eventually diagnosed cancer in the bone. In autumn 1893, leg amputated, and later in the winter while Gunnar stayed in Berlin, he suffered a severe flu and pneumonia. His father and brother Einar was sent for by Adel Steen Normann and they came to Berlin on the evening before Christmas Eve. Gunnar was then dead that morning. His coffin was brought home from Berlin and he is buried in the family's private burial at Gunnarsholmen, next to his childhood home on Svinøya. Despite Gunnar Berg died only 30 years old, he left behind a large number of paintings, drawings and sketches, most of Lofoten. Gunnar Berg was also an accomplished photographer and took hundreds of photos, part of which is preserved. In Svolvær you can currently see about 70 paintings and drawings in Gallery Gunnar Berg at Svinøya, which opened in 2001. .