Munch Museum in Oslo
Description
Munch Museum is an art museum in Oslo, Norway dedicated to the life and works of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch.
The museum was financed from the profits generated by the Oslo municipal cinemas and opened its doors in 1963 to commemorate what would have been Munch's 100th birthday. Its collection consists of works and articles by Munch, which he donated to the municipality of Oslo upon his death, and additional works donated by his sister Inger Munch, as well as various other works obtained through trades of duplicate prints, etc.
The museum now has in its permanent collection well over half of the artist's entire production of paintings and at least one copy of all his prints. This amounts to over 1,200 paintings, 18,000 prints, six sculptures, as well as 500 plates, 2,240 books, and various other items. The museum also contains educational and conservation sections, and has facilities for the performing arts.
The museum structure was designed by the architects Einar Myklebust and Gunnar Fougner (1911–1995). Myklebust also played an important role in the expansion and renovation of the museum in 1994 for the 50th anniversary of Munch's death. This site has also been the location of filming for an Olsenbanden-movie from 1984. The City of Oslo promoted an architectural competition for a new Munch Museum in the area of Bjørvika, a new urban development were the Oslo Opera House is also located. The new museum will probably be completed in 2018 by the Spanish studio Herreros Arquitectos.
Theft of The Scream
On Sunday, 22 August 2004, two paintings by Munch, The Scream and Madonna, were stolen from the Munch Museum by masked men wielding firearms. The robbers forced the museum guards to lie down on the floor while they snapped the cable securing the paintings to the wall and escaped in a black Audi A6 station wagon, which police later found abandoned. The paintings were recovered by Oslo Police on August 31, 2006. For more details on the theft see The Scream.
Plans for the museum's future
The City of Oslo promoted an architectural competition in 2008 for a new Munch Museum in the area of Bjørvika, a new urban development where the Oslo Opera House is also located. The competition was won in 2009 by the Spanish studio Herreros Arquitectos with its project Lambda. Before the local election in Oslo in 2011, the Oslo Progress Party decided that they would no longer support building Lambda due to economic concerns. After the election, in December 2011, the Oslo City Council voted to end the Lambda project. Instead the council wanted to consider improving the current museum or moving the collection to Nasjonalgalleriet. In May 2013, the Oslo City Council finally took the decision to revive the Lambda project, and move the museum to its new site on the waterfront, next to the Opera House. The new museum is expected to open in 2018.
Street view
Reviews
For the best overview of Munch's work, I strongly recommend a visit to Kobe museum in Bergen, on the west cost of Norway.
Three stars and not four because it would be nice to have all the works of Munch are present at Oslo on the inside.
Available also other temporary exhibitions.
Very well-organized.
I've seen other reviewers comment that such paintings as Madonna, the Sick Child or The Dance or Life were not avaialble to see yet it seems I was lucky enough to see them.
I'm sure the Norwegians who go often get to experience a bit more, the fullness of Munch's work, sadly as a tourist, that one visit will not be enough.
Edit: It seems the Madonna, The Sick Child and Dance of Life are reproductions of the paintings found at the National Gallery
