Norway’s National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design to Open in Oslo this June

Norway’s National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design has announced that it will be ready to welcome visitors from June 11, 2022, during summer.

“We are inviting visitors to join us and have a look inside while the art is being mounted and the museum is taking shape,” said Karin Hindsbo, Director of the museum.

Organised, prebooked tours free of charge will start as soon as local coronavirus restrictions are lifted, allowing visitors into selected parts of the interior, including exhibition rooms and the exterior of the brand new building designed by Kleihues + Schuwerk.

5000 works of art and a glowing exhibition hall

With the new National Museum, Norway gets a unique space for the country’s most extensive collection of art, architecture and design. More than 5000 works, from the antiquity to the museum’s most recent contemporary acquisitions, will be on display in a collection exhibition that spans two floors and almost 90 rooms. The building also includes a spectacular space for temporary exhibitions - the Light Hall situated on the roof - as well as a large open-air roof terrace, cafés, a shop, and the largest art library in the Nordic region. Situated on Oslo’s harbour close to the promenade, the museum offers spectacular views of the city.

The museum is designed by German architects Kleihues + Schuwerk and built by Norway’s government building commissioner Statsbygg. Designed with the perspective of housing artworks for centuries, the museum is built with clean and robust materials that will age with dignity, like oak, bronze and marble. The entire facade is covered with Norwegian slate. As a FutureBuilt pilot project, the new museum is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% compared to current building standards.

The first exhibitions

On permanent display works from all the National Museum’s various fields – older and modern art, architecture, design, craft and contemporary art – will meet and interact in new contexts.

The museum’s collection holds around 400,000 objects ranging from medieval tapestries to modern design classics and contemporary artworks. There will be rooms dedicated to the museum’s significant collection of works by Edvard Munch, including «The Scream», 19th century landscape painting, royal gowns worn by Norway’s two queens, and a display of works by renowned Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn. Prominent artists on display will include Harald Sohlberg, Harriet Backer, Theodor Kittelsen, Gustav Vigeland, Hannah Ryggen, Lucas Cranach, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and Ida Ekblad.

For opening, the Light Hall will be filled with an extensive survey of new Norwegian Contemporary art featuring almost 150 artists and artist groups of all ages and covering all the museum’s fields.

The full programme for the opening year will be launched later this year.

The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design

• Opens in Oslo, Norway on 11 June 2022.
• Established 2003-2005 with the merger of four museums from the fields of older and modern art, contemporary art, design and craft, and architecture.
• The museum’s collection hold more than 400,000 objects.
• The new building is designed by German architects Kleihues + Schuwerk.
• Total area: 54,600 m2.
• 13,000 m2 exhibition space. Almost twice as much as the museum’s former spaces making it the largest museum in the Nordic region and bigger than international museums such as Rijksmuseum and Guggenheim Bilbao.