To Edvard Munch, they have been his kids. And like several doting father, he hated the thought of them straying too removed from dwelling.
Now, greater than 26,000 artworks from the grasp expressionist’s “household” – together with his greatest recognized piece, The Scream – have moved below one roof within the huge and custom-built MUNCH museum on the shore of Oslo Fjord.
Gone is the previous, rundown and poorly secured Munch Museum within the Norwegian capital’s outskirts – from the place a model of The Scream and one other masterpiece, Madonna, have been stolen by armed robbers in 2004.
On Oct 22, the brand new museum opened to the general public smack dab within the coronary heart of Oslo, in a luxuriously spacious modernist constructing that has sparked a lot controversy.
“This is perhaps the largest museum for a single artist,” museum director Stein Olav Henrichsen says as he provides a tour of the constructing.
With 13 flooring protecting greater than 26,000sq m (280,000sq toes), the brand new constructing gives 5 occasions extra exhibition house than the gloomy museum that till now housed Norway’s nationwide treasure.
A bachelor who had no kids, Munch (1863-1944) bequeathed his work to town of Oslo. He had initially supposed to depart it to the Norwegian state, however modified his will on the last-minute to keep away from the artwork falling into undesirable fingers.
‘Degenerate artwork’
On the time, Norway was occupied by the Nazis, who thought of the pioneer of expressionism to be a maker of “degenerate artwork”.
Rising from the shore of the fjord and subsequent to town’s iconic opera home, the brand new museum goals to make up for a historic injustice by lastly giving the world-renowned artist the constructing his admirers really feel his oeuvre deserves.
Half 1,000,000 guests are anticipated annually – with the museum hoping for greater than 1,000,000 – to view the 200 works on everlasting show throughout 4,500sq metres.
Amid a few of the recurring darker themes like angst, despair and dying are much less miserable ones exploring love, self-portraiture and landscapes.
Pallid and sickly bare our bodies combine with fiery purple strokes depicting mops of hair or sunsets.
And naturally, there’s The Scream. The museum owns a number of variations of the enduring art work: one portray, one drawing, six lithographs and a number of other sketches.
It additionally options different masterpieces resembling Madonna – each it and the stolen Scream have been recovered by police two years later – Vampire and The Sick Little one, in addition to some lesser recognized Munch items.
Among the many latter are sculptures, images, a movie, and two huge work – The Solar and The Researchers – which needed to be lifted into the museum throughout building by way of a gap within the facade.
“Munch wished to have a museum. He talked about his kids (referring to) all his works and he wished them to be collectively as a set,” says curator Trine Otte Bak Nielsen.
“I feel he can be very completely satisfied to see what we now have made now.”
‘Brutal constructing’
The constructing itself, dubbed “Lambda” as a result of its slanted prime resembles the letter of the Greek alphabet with the identical title, has been the topic of controversy.
That form has riled some, whereas the luminous glass home windows promised within the designs are largely hidden beneath what some say resemble monstrous steel shutters.
Again in 2019, artwork historian Tommy Sorbo slammed the venture as a “air pollution” of Oslo, a “coming disaster”. He maintains that opinion at the moment, “not less than for the outside and the doorway”.
“The foyer appears like an airport, a warehouse, a lodge or a business constructing,” he stated.
“There may be completely nothing within the selection of colors and supplies to point that the place homes one of many biggest artists on the earth.”
Administration has shrugged off the criticism, saying the museum ought to provoke individuals in the identical means Munch’s artwork did on the time it was made.
“The constructing fits the gathering very nicely as a result of it is a monumental constructing, it is… a brutal constructing,” Henrichsen says.
“It’s good to even have an opinion about it.”
So will the much-decried “steel shutters” be sufficient to dissuade the thieves?
Over time, Munch’s works have been the item of a number of high-profile heists.
Maybe essentially the most spectacular was that daring 2004 noon armed theft.
“That is the in all probability most safe constructing in Norway however you will not really feel it once you come right here. The safety could be very delicate and we wish to deal with the artwork expertise,” Henrichsen stated.
“I can guarantee everyone that there is not going to be a theft right here.” – AFP
