Olsen heir plans new Munch gallery

Norwegian philanthropist Petter Olsen, who inherited part of a shipping fortune along with a vast collection of paintings by Edvard Munch, seems keen to share his valuable collection with the public. He plans to open a private Munch gallery on his rural estate south of Oslo. Newspaper Østlandets Blad reported last week that Olsen has [...]

No Munch relief any time soon

NEWS ANALYSIS: It’s now likely to take years before Oslo’s vast and priceless collection of Edvard Munch’s art will be placed in the new and larger accommodation it’s long needed. City politicians, who formally trashed on Wednesday an earlier-approved plan to build a new Munch Museum on the city’s waterfront, now need to agree on [...]

Screams erupt over museum fiasco

The City of Oslo’s failure to agree on a location for construction of a new Munch Museum has set off screams of protest and frustration from art experts, historians, city patriots and a long list of academics and professionals. The head of the national architects’ association calls the museum fiasco “embarrassing.” Feuding city politicians are [...]

Munch director still hopes for new museum

The director of Oslo’s famed but inadequate Munch Museum says he’s not giving up hopes that a new museum will still be built on the city’s eastern waterfront at Bjørvika. Stein Olav Henrichsen said he was troubled by the Progress Party’s withdrawal of support for the new museum but remained firm that “we must get [...]

New Munch Museum loses support

Oslo’s conservative city government coalition was split after one of its members, the Progress Party, backed out of an earlier political agreement to support construction of a new Munch Museum at Bjørvika in Oslo. The new museum was initially proposed to house the collections of the existing Munch and Stenersen museums. The decision at an [...]

UiO celebrates with honorary PhDs

The University of Oslo (UiO) has awarded 17 honorary doctorate degrees as part of its 200th anniversary celebrations, which are being held all year long but climaxed late last week and over the weekend. “Honorary doctorates expand the university, they strengthen the University of Oslo’s place in the international, academic community,” Dean Ole Petter Ottersen [...]

Revealing Munch’s genius at work

As they carefully rolled out a huge, historic canvas at the Munch Museum on Thursday, even the museum’s art experts seemed to be holding their breath. They’re about to display a large assortment of paintings and drawings by Norway’s most famous artist, Edvard Munch, many of which they’d never seen themselves. The major exhibition opening [...]

Munch battle not over

It’s enough to make fans of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch scream in frustration. A political battle over where to place a new museum in his honor just doesn’t seem near a solution. Hopes rose last week when a loud public debate between Oslo officials and the country’s highest historic preservation official buried the hatchet. The [...]

New bridge to unite old and new

A bold new pedestrian bridge over the vast expanse of railroad tracks at Oslo’s Central Station opened over the weekend, to literally bridge the gap between one of the capital’s oldest and poorest neighborhoods with one of its newest and most affluent. Real unification may take some time. On the one side, north of the [...]

Munch Museum’s future uncertain

Norway’s directorate for cultural heritage (Riksantikvar) has blocked plans, at least temporarily, to build a new Munch Museum near Oslo’s waterfront Opera House at Bjørvika, claiming it will ruin views and dominate the skyline. No one now knows what the final outcome will be, and opponents of the waterfront project are reviving efforts to build a [...]

Munch Museum quarrel continues

They’re not exactly screaming, but the quarreling over a new museum to house the treasures of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch was shifting into high gear this week as hearings get underway. Munch’s most famous painting Skriket (The Scream), meanwhile, has once again been saved from ruin. The painting came under threat last month when bitterly [...]

Munch Museum avoids closure

Oslo’s popular Munch Museum managed to stay open this week, but has had to remove some of its most famous paintings and close off a main exhibition hall. The reason: Condensation that can damage its precious works by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. Many visitors to the museum last weekend were disappointed when they didn’t get [...]

More money for Munch paintings

Oslo’s city government has agreed to allocate more funding for conservation of the city’s vast collection of paintings by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The city inherited the paintings when the artist died, and now needs to take care of them. Funding has been an ongoing problem for years, and Japanese investors have often stepped in [...]

New boss for Munch Museum

An international search for a new leader of Oslo’s Munch Museum is over. City officials found him in Bergen. Stein Olav Henrichsen, age 56, has most recently been head of Bergen’s Opera and led the merger of Opera Vest and Den Nye Opera. He’s an educated musician and has for many years championed new music [...]

Summertime at The Munch Museum

MUSEUM GUIDE: Norway’s capital is packed with museums, and they’re often popping up in the news. We’re following that news, and focus every week this spring on a specific museum worthy of a visit. THIS WEEK: Summer scenes from Norway’s most famous artist, Edvard Munch, are highlighted in this year’s summer exhibition at The Munch [...]

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