After years of facing an uncertain future, state officials finally have a plan of sorts for Norway’s popular National Gallery in downtown Oslo. It will still be closed on January 13, when its art will start being packed up and moved to the new National Museum now under construction, but now it’s due to reopen […]
Artistic spat ends in ‘compromise’
October 24, 2018
A leading Norwegian art critic attacked the new head of Norway’s National Museum last week, claiming Karin Hindsbo “lacked competence” within both the art profession and management. Hindsbo had decided against buying a piece of art that critic Lars Elton deemed to be of great national importance, but now it will remain in Norway after […]
Munch Museum to stay open until move
October 12, 2018
Oslo’s Munch Museum in the Tøyen area of Oslo will remain open through all of next year and right up until its art is moved to its new museum building due to open in June 2020. “It’s extra important for us to stay open when the National Gallery closes its doors in January,” said the […]
No funding for Viking ship repairs
October 10, 2018
Norway’s conservative government failed to earmark any additional funding in this year’s state budget to bolster the country’s famed Viking ships. Signs of deterioration were found on both the Gokstad and Oseberg ships last summer, and calls have gone out for immediate repairs. The hulls of both ships started to sag last summer. Experts at […]
‘Last hurrah’ for the National Gallery
September 27, 2018
It’s perhaps only fitting that the artist behind Norway’s “national painting” of a mountain in Rondane is featured in what will be the last exhibition at the National Gallery in Oslo for a very long time. When the Harald Sohlberg exhibition that opens this weekend closes on January 13, the National Gallery will close as […]
Henie Onstad turns 50, artistically
August 31, 2018
The sprawling art museum founded and funded by Norway’s ice skating queen Sonja Henie and her husband Niels Onstad featured their own private art collection of 239 pieces when it opened in August 1968. Now it boasts more than 4,000 works, and will be marking “50 years of living art” until next August. Norway’s King […]
Queen ‘back home’ after 50 royal years
August 29, 2018
Queen Sonja and King Harald were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, two days after the queen ceremoniously re-opened her childhood home. It’s been moved from Oslo to the Maihaugen outdoor museum in Lillehammer, and restored to how it looked when it served as a safe haven for the couple who had to wait […]
Get a sneak peek of Munch’s new home
August 21, 2018
PHOTO FEATURE: Oslo’s new monument to Norway’s famed artist Edvard Munch has been rising on the city’s eastern waterfront at a rapid pace during the past year. Its vast and invaluable collection of Munch’s art can only be rivalled by the views from the top of the new high-rise museum, which itself is said to […]
‘Maud’ back home after 101 years
August 20, 2018
The remains of the polar ship “Maud” are back home on the Oslo Fjord again, a century after Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen sailed away on what would be an unsuccessful expedition to the North Pole. It’s been a long voyage, with plenty of drama along the way. The vessel was built especially for operations […]
National Museum turns on the charm
June 22, 2018
PHOTO FEATURE: Norway’s new National Museum is rising on Oslo’s western waterfront, and attracting some unusually harsh criticism two years before it even opens. Museum staff and state officials met the critics with a charm offensive, though, and offered the public a peek at what’s going on behind its new brick walls. “It’s incomprehensible that […]
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