Day two of my Oslo adventure was, unfortunately, a short day since I flew out in the evening. I needed to head to the airport by 4pm, so I had planned only on visiting the National Gallery of Art today, leaving the afternoon open for whatever. On my (roundabout) way there, at the intersection of St. Olaf’s Gate and Kristian IV’s Gate, I discovered a wonderful memorial to the composer Rikard Nordraak who composed the Norwegian National Anthem. It is hidden in a little copse of trees with stairs leading up to it. At the base of the stairs is a pair of wrought iron creatures which strongly resemble traditional Viking dragons, and at the top of the stairs is a block of stone with a statue of Nordraak. This piece was created by Gustav Vigeland around 1911.
I arrived at the Gallery early and got my ticket to Munch 150, a retrospective of Edvard Munch‘s work, celebrating his 150 birthday. Like most museums in the UK, The National Gallery in Oslo is free if you’re visiting the standard collections but is ticketed for special exhibitions.
Unfortunately, the Gallery did not allow photographs in the Munch exhibition, so I have no photos of his work. If you are only familiar with The Scream, I suggest checking out examples of his other work on the Google Art Project, or on Wikipedia.
Since they curated the exhibition in both a thematic and a chronological order, I found it very interesting to watch Munch’s transition from a Realist portrait painter to that of the Symbolist who painted the Scream, with several stylistic variations in between. Looking at paintings during the period 1893 and 1900 I could see a variety of styles and influences, before he arrived at the intensely coloured, flowing style he is most associated with. With his paintings, Munch began exploring peak emotional states, and began working on a series he later called “The Frieze of Life.” This series includes works such as Madonna, Anxiety, The Kiss, Vampire, Death in the Sick Room, and, of course, The Scream.
Munch worked in a number of media, experimenting with lithography, woodcuts and oil pastels among others. The exhibition shows how he would recreate the same motif in multiple media, or by developing printmaking techniques to change the image’s colour or background.
He died in 1944 during the Nazi occupation of Norway, bequeathing his artistic estate to the city of Oslo. This became the basis for the Munch Museum which opened in 1963.
After the Munch exhibit, I wandered through the other exhibits. The Gallery had a modest gallery of European artists on display including Picasso, Monet, Rodin, Degas, and Gauguin. They were also running an exhibition in conjunction with Munch 150, called Highlights from the Collection. This featured Norwegian artists such as J.C. Dahl, Adolph Tidemand, Christian Krohg, and Harald Sohlberg. They were primarily realist, romantic painters whose work often had a nationalistic focus. This exhibition was an interesting contrast to Munch, whose focus was the psyche, rendered in symbolic style.
When I finished at the Gallery, I still had a couple of hours to kill before heading to the airport. I decided to take a walk and explore Pipervika, the district around the waterfront. On my way, I passed through Eidsvolls plass, a park with the National Theatre at one end and the Norwegian Parliament building at the other. Bordered on one side by Karl Johans Gate, a pedestrian shopping street, the park is dotted with statues and trees, a fountain and an ice rink in the winter. It is a beautiful little oasis in the downtown area of Oslo.
I made my way down to the Oslo City Hall, a huge brick building built in the early twentieth century. It faces the harbour and is surrounded with statues, a fountain in front, and a clock in one of the towers. A second astronomical clock is also situated on the north side.
From here, I headed west and passed the Nobel Peace Center, then headed out toward Aker Brygge, a district situated on an arm of land that juts out into Oslo Fjord. I walked along the water and discovered several public art pieces– statues of both traditional and modern styles. At the end of Aker Brygge is the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, a privately funded contemporary art gallery. I had planned on visiting here, but looking at the time I realised that I needed to start heading to the airport.
I turned around and walked back to the National Theatre train station and caught the train to Torp-Sandefjord where I was flying out of. The train was crowded and I feared that I would have to stand the entire trip, but after a few stops, enough commuters got off to allow most of us to sit. I soon arrived at the airport, checked in and flew out.