State steps in with Munch support

After years of quarreling among city officials over construction of a new Munch Museum, the state is finally stepping in with an offer to share costs. The move by Culture Minister Hadia Tajik may end the conflict and get the project back on track. Newspaper Dagbladet reported Wednesday that the state government will offer financial [...]

City halts cuts at Munch Museum

Drama and unrest at Oslo’s Munch Museum continued on Wednesday after city officials ultimately in charge of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s legacy halted looming staff cuts and demanded more budget accountability from the museum’s management. Museum Director Stein Olav Henrichsen is the target of criticism over his leadership and an alleged lack of budget discipline. [...]

City puts damper on Munch’s party

Famed Norwegian artist Edvard Munch may either be spinning in his grave or snorting posthumously at the latest move by the Oslo city officials responsible for his legacy: Munch Museum management had no choice but to inform employees this week that staffing would be cut by more than 20 percent. The cuts ordered by the [...]

Munch celebration gets underway

After months, even years, of planning, quarreling and funding worries, Norway’s cultural elite gathered in Oslo Wednesday to kick off a year of celebrations to mark the 150th birthday of the country’s most famous artist, Edvard Munch. King Harald was among those attending the festivities at the Oslo City Hall. City officials still haven’t been [...]

Munch celebrated amidst quarreling

Norway’s most famous artist, Edvard Munch, would have turned 149 years old on Wednesday. He’ll be the subject of a local jubilee for the next 12 months, in the run-up to his 150th birthday, despite disappointing funding for it and Oslo politicians’ failure to agree on a new museum to house his priceless works. The [...]

Fjord-side museum would draw most

A new Munch Museum built next to the Opera House on the Oslo Fjord at Bjørvika would attract twice as many visitors as would a new or expanded building on the museum’s current site at Tøyen. That’s the conclusion of an independent calculation prepared by consulting firm OPAK/Metier for city politicians quarreling over where the [...]

Munch masterpieces back home again

One of the most popular and highly acclaimed exhibitions of the works of famed Norwegian artist Edvard Munch has finally opened back home in Oslo after a record-breaking European tour. The triumphant return of Munch’s art this week led to a truce, at least for now, in the ongoing political quarrel over where a new [...]

‘Scream’ draws crowds in New York

A recently auctioned version of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s most famous painting, “The Scream,” was grabbing lots more attention when it went on public display at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York this week. The man who reportedly now owns the painting, meanwhile, said he’d recently been in Oslo to see another version [...]

Hundreds marched for new Munch Museum

PHOTO FEATURE: Some joked that it was one of the “best-dressed” demonstrations in Norwegian history, when hundreds of art enthusiasts including several celebrities and wealthy investors gathered Tuesday evening in front of City Hall. They want city politicians to stop quarreling and start building a new Munch Museum on the waterfront at Bjørvika. The protesters [...]

Majority want new Munch Museum

Scores of frustrated Norwegians, including many celebrity artists, planned to march in a torchlit parade this week to demand that city politicians finally approve plans for a new Munch Museum on the waterfront near Oslo’s Opera House. A new survey shows that a majority of Oslo voters support the long-delayed plan for a a high-rise [...]

New landmark opens in Oslo

The new Astrup Fearnley Museum of contemporary art has already become an instant landmark on the waterfront of the Norwegian capital, even before its three-day opening festivities this weekend. Designed by famed architect Renzo Piano, it’s attracted international attention and stands in stark contrast to the endless delays and political quarreling that plague other museum [...]

More quarreling over Munch legacy

As news broke that a recently auctioned version of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” would go on exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York this fall, officials in Oslo were no closer to deciding where their versions of the same famous painting will ultimately be housed. Arguing continues over the future of the [...]

Tests to prove Munch heirs

A Norwegian woman who’s a certified if distant heir to famed artist Edvard Munch is keen to help in the DNA testing of an American woman who thinks she may be Munch’s granddaughter. “This is fun for us, if it’s true,” Elisabeth Munch-Ellingsen told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Monday. Munch-Ellingsen is the great-great-granddaughter of Munch’s [...]

Buyer reported for Munch’s ‘Scream’

UPDATED: International art experts initially thought that Norway’s most famous painting, The Scream by Edvard Munch, was most likely to be bought by the wealthy royal family in Qatar. Now reports are swirling that the painting remains in the US, where it set a new record when it was sold at auction last spring in [...]

Strike disappoints ‘Scream’ fans

Ships were back in Norwegian harbours on Monday but arriving tourists were still being hit with disappointments, while others languished in long lines at Norwegian airports. Ongoing strikes continued to hit innocent third parties as labour conflicts dragged into another week of disruption in public services. Cruiseships were among those that finally could tie up [...]

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