National Gallery, Oslo

This is the place to go to get an overview over the various artists that have made their mark on the art scene of norwegian history. There's a wide variety of artists and epoches that are depicted here. Some highlights are pictures by Munch, Tidemand & Gude, Kittelsen, etc.

The first place I take friends visiting Oslo is The National Gallery.

It is the home of some of the most fantastic paintings in the world I would say, like "Skrik" ("Scream") by Munch and also someone that are not so well known outside the borders of Norway but well worth a look, like "Brudeferden in Hardanger"("Bridal voyage in Hardanger") by Adolph Tidemand and Hans Gude in cooperation, and my personal favorite; "Vinternatt i Rondane"("Winter night in Rondane") by Harald Solberg.

Also worth mentioning is the cafeteria in the museum or "The French Hall" as its named because the sculptures inside the cafeteria are gifts from the Louvre in Paris.
They serve some of the best hot chocolate in Oslo in a lot of different varieties, like with chili, vanilla etc. and they also have wonderful tea on the menu.
The French Hall is located just inside the museum. You turn right after the entrance right trough the museum shop.

The museum is free to enter and is open 10 am. to 6 pm. on Tuesday, Wedensday and Friday. From 10 am. to 7 pm. on Thursday and from 11 am. to 5 pm. in the weekend. Monday its closed.

On our first morning in Oslo we caugt the tram to Nationaltheatret . Our mission, to see the Munch murals at Oslo University was aborted by a notice telling us they are currently closed to the public so we continued through the university gardens to the National Gallery.

The Nasjonalgalleriet is housed in a sombre, 19th century building. There are three floors but the core collection is on the first floor and this was where we decided we woud stay. Before climbing the stairs we had to hang up our rainjackets and leave our bags in a locker, so no hope of getting in a sneaky photo.

Upstairs, we went straight to Room 24, the room completely devoted to Munch. Though early in the morning, there were already quite a few people clustered round 'The Scream' and security was tight there. Not surprising really when you consider that this painting was stolen in broad daylight once already. Now it's fronted by a glass screen and to be honest I would have to say that the reality, for me, was not so impressive as the reproductions suggest. There are of course umpteen versions of this painting but the National Gallery's one is frequently touted as being THE original. Room 24 is filled with other works by Munch from all stages of his career and some of these lesser known works, were just as interesting in building up a more total picture of the artist.

Apart from Munch, a visit to the National Gallery is a litle like a visual tour of Norway. Room after room of huge landscapes will almost make up for not getting to the fjords in person. The most spectacular of these are the landscapes of Johan Christian Dahl but I also loved the smaller representations of Norway's rural and urban traditions in the works of artists like Harriet Backer, Erik Werenskiold and Gerhard Munthe.

The gallery also has a limited selection of European art by greats like Renoir and Picassso but the Norwegian paintings are the ones that shine here. Most importantly, if you don't make it to the Munch Museum, then you will at least have seen THAT painting.

The National Gallery is free and open to the public 7 days a week.

I can only give an incomplete review of the museum as I only had time to go around the painting rooms.
This was a very fine introduction to Norwegian art and there was an Impressionistic room, also displaying futuristic art and bronzes by Rodin.
The gallery hosts a room dedicated to Munch (with notably Livets Dans), but the main interest of the museum for the foreigner is the discovery of Nordic artists, such as the national romantic Johan Christian Dahl, Erik Werenskiold (whose drawings are usually eclipsed by Kittelsen's).
I let you discover the Nordic room alone. I found the statue of the Volva / Wise woman particularly impressive.

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The National Gallery has a good selection of European masters, local artist along with the centerpiece which is a room of Edward Munch's greatest works. The museum can be visited in about an hour or two.

Located in the city centre, it is an interesting gallery witha real mix of work on display.

The exhibits range from National Romanticism to other styles and schools - Picasso, Gauguin, Van Gogh and many Norwegian artists (including an original of "The Scream".)

The National Gallery has got the main collection of Norwegian art of all the country. It has got paintings from the Romantic period to the Second War World. Here you can see many paintings made by Munch and some of his paintings that you can see here are: the fantastic The Scream, Death in the Sick Chamber, Madonna, Mother and Daughter, Puberty, Sister Inge, The Dance of Life and nuch more. There are also paintings made by Van Dyck, Delacroix, Renoir, Cezanne, Picasso, Goya, El-Greco, Manet and Gauguin.

It's very interestion collection of Norwegian, Scandinavian and European art placed on three stories.

Opening hours:
Mon, Wed, Fri: 10.00-18.00
Tue: closed
Sat: 10.00-16.00
Sun: 11.00-16.00

You can visit it for free :-)