National Gallery of Norway

The National Gallery of Norway, Norwegian: Nasjonalgalleriet, is the largest art collection in Norway and a cornerstone of the country's cultural heritage. Located in Oslo, it has been administratively part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design since 2003. Founded in 1842 following a parliamentary resolution from 1836, the gallery holds the preeminent collection of Norwegian art alongside significant international works. Since 2022 its holdings have been housed in a new purpose-built museum building on Oslo's harbor front, marking a new chapter in its nearly two-century history.

The National Gallery was established in 1842, following a parliamentary decision from the Storting in 1836. Initially it was housed in the Royal Palace in Oslo. The gallery received its own dedicated building in 1882, designed by architects Heinrich Ernst and Adolf Schirmer. Over its history the institution has carried several names, including Den norske stats sentralmuseum for billedkunst and, from 1903 to 1920, Statens Kunstmuseum. Directors who shaped the museum include Jens Thiis (1908-1941), Sigurd Willoch (1946-1973), Knut Berg (1975-1995), Tone Skedsmo (1995-2000), and Anniken Thue (2001-2003). Since 2003 the gallery has not had its own director, being absorbed into the larger National Museum structure. In 1994 the gallery attracted international attention when Edvard Munch's The Scream was stolen; the painting was recovered shortly afterward and the thieves received prison sentences. A 2013 report revealed that the gallery had been erroneously labeled technically unfit for paintings, when in fact no such conclusion had been reached and Norway's parliament had been misinformed. In 2016 admission prices doubled overnight. The gallery closed temporarily in 2019, and its collection was moved to a new building that opened on 11 June 2022.

The National Gallery's collection encompasses the largest and most significant holdings of art in Norway, spanning Norwegian and international art from old masters to the twentieth century. Its strengths lie in Norwegian painting and sculpture, particularly from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, alongside substantial European paintings. The collection includes works across multiple media and national schools, with notable depth in Norwegian Romanticism, Realism, and early modernism, as well as nineteenth-century French painting and older European traditions.

The gallery's signature works include multiple pieces by Edvard Munch, notably The Scream (1893) and a version of his Madonna. Norwegian painters represented include Johan Christian Claussen Dahl, Erik Werenskiold, Christian Krohg, Adolph Tidemand, Hans Gude, Harriet Backer, and Lars Jorde. The sculptor Julius Middelthun is also represented. Among old master European paintings, the collection features works by El Greco, Lucas Cranach the Elder, fellow Golden Age painters, Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Sacrifice of Noah), Orazio Gentileschi, Artemisia Gentileschi, Andrea Locatelli (Bacchanal Scene), Pieter Elinga (Letter Carrier), Ferdinand Bol, Daniel de Blieck (Church Interior), Jacob van der Ulft (Seaport), Cornelis Bisschop (Seamstress), and Jan van Goyen. Nineteenth and twentieth-century international holdings include Armand Guillaumin, Carl Sohn, Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet (Rainy Day, Etretat), Paul Cézanne, and Pablo Picasso. The Italian Wikipedia also notes a self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh, works by Heinrich Christian Friedrich Hosenfelder, Thomas Fearnley, and Karl Edvard Diriks among Norwegian painters, and sculptures including Renoir's Triumph of Aphrodite and Degas's Morning Toilet, though it incorrectly states that three versions of The Scream were originally housed here.

The National Gallery originally occupied the Royal Palace before moving to its own building in 1882, designed by Heinrich Ernst and Adolf Schirmer. In 2022 the collection was relocated to a new building on the harbor front as part of the Fjordbyen development, located in the Vestbanen area of central Oslo. This new structure, which opened on 11 June 2022, was designed by architects Kleihues + Schuwerk following their win in an architecture competition held in November 2010. The building now houses all sections of the National Museum except architecture.

The National Gallery is located in Oslo, Norway's capital. Since 2003 it has been administratively part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, and its collections are now displayed in the new National Museum building on Oslo's harbor front. The institution's website is https://nasjonalmuseet.no. The 2016 doubling of admission prices marked a significant change in access policy. As the principal national art collection, the gallery serves as Norway's foremost public art institution, drawing both domestic and international visitors to its comprehensive holdings of Norwegian and European art.