Unexpected artsy Oslo: modern to contemporary part 1

https://youtu.be/8GjgBue5fbI

Traditional gallery

Most visitors go to national galleries or the main galleries for embracing “artistic” and for some to sound “cooler” on associating the art world or to have seen artworks by famous artists. Although some of the visitors are not that “artsy” in heart, they must have known some of the artists’ names as common knowledge. A stereotype of national galleries or the main galleries that artworks that framed or displayed must be done by some valuable and talented artists who have mastered art skills well and being recognized in the art world, and I agree. However, some visitors might have stopped on a minor level of appreciation or just be there for some snapshots. Indeed, the biography of the artists rather interesting, what got them to a national level of recognization was about hard work: investing time, facing challenges fearlessly, being innovative and rebellious in a certain way, embracing creativity, constantly inspiring other artists, the level of influencing and contributing in art history.

Visitors must have experienced walking into national galleries and do not know much about the featured artists. It does not matter. More important is to be honest with your intention, the way you communicate with the artworks and the connection between you and the art world. I must say seeing artworks is like meeting people, we all have our preferences and the level we wish to connect. We would feel excited to see something or someone we are interested in. Artworks represented the emotions of the artist in that time frame regarding things meant to them, which is intimate.

Nasjonalgalleriet (The National Gallery), Oslo, Norway

Documented in January 2018

The displays of the Noasjonalgalleriet (The National Gallery of Oslo) involving sculptures, photographs, and paintings. There are quite a few Norwegian or Norway based artists’ works that can be seen, or mainly European. For some of the names, you must familiar with as they are world-known influential artists like Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, etc, they took a significant place in art history for inspiring other artists and contributing the art development due to their innovative painting techniques and the developed personal style onto their works.

Sculpture

Stephan Sinding

Stephan Sinding (1846-1922) was a Norwegian sculptor concerning Realism and Symbolism, who moved his life later to Copenhagen continuing his art career.

Gustav Vigeland

Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) was a Norwegian sculptor concerning Modernism. His level of creativity and productivity made him a special position among Norwegian sculptors. Besides, he was the designer of the Nobel Peace Prize medal.

Camille Claudel

Camille Claudel (1864-1943) was a French sculptor who was being recognized for her originality and high-quality sculptural works, however, a series of tough life events happened after her father’s death and she suffered from mental health issues in her late lifetime.

Auguste Rodin

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was a French figurative sculptor concerning Realism, who took a craft-like approach to his work and managed clay at a complexity level and detailed work. A fact of his private life that he once had an intimate relationship with a talented female sculptor Camille Claudel, and they were influential to each other’s artworks, however, the relationship ended nasty.

Mixed media

Rolf Nesch

Rolf Nesch (1893-1975) was an artist born in Germany, influenced by Expressionism especially inspired by Edvard Munch and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, later he moved to Norway to continue his art life. His artworks involved painting, graphics, sculpture, and the use of innovative new materials and methods.

Photography

Knud Knudsen

Knud Knudsen (1812-1895) was a photographer born in Norway, who was considered as one of the first professional photographers in Norway’s history. He played an important role in contributing to the art of photography in the 19th century by experimenting with light and shadow in his works. He found nature and countryside fascinating as the core of his works as documenting everyday life.

Painting

Sigurd Winge

Sigurd Winge (1909-1970) was born in Germany but as a Norwegian painter associating with Impressionism and Post-impressionism. Also, he was known as a visual artist who worked with various media.

Johan Christian Dahl

Johan Christian Dahl (1788-1857) was a painter born in Norway, whose works were embracing Naturalism and Romanticism. He was considered the first great romantic painter in Norway and played a significant role in Norwegian painting history and was recognized in the European art world.

Jean Baptiste Monnoyer

Jean Baptiste Monnoyer (1636-1699) was born in France, who earned a high reputation for painting flowers and fruits with a mixture of botanical accuracy and artistic component or cartoon form of flowers and fruits for tapestry-weavers. Besides, he painted historical and natural landscapes, which were relatively less significant.

Lorenzo Pasinelli

Lorenzo Pasinelli (1629-1700) was an Italian painter embracing Mannerism (as known as a late renaissance in European art history when it finished in the 16th century replaced by the Baroque style).

Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) was a French Post-impression painter who played an important role in transiting the late 19th to the early 20th-century art world. His various idiosyncratic painting style contributing to Modernism and Abstract art development, influencing later generations of artists in modern painting history. Also, he was credited as “the forefather of Fauvism or a precursor of Cubism“, as suggested by Pablo Picasso was inspired by Cézanne’s works.

Adolf Fjæstad Christensen

Gustaf Adolf Fjæstad Christensen (1868-1948) was a Swedish painter embracing Impressionism and Modern art, also he was a craftsman of tapestries and wooden furniture inspired by Swedish folk art. He was known for the unusual use of light-sensitive chemicals coated in his paintings.

Hans Heyerdahl

Hans Heyerdahl (1857-1913) was born in Sweden but established as a Norwegian Realist painter involving works of Naturalism, the landscape scenes of Norway and portrait paintings of some notable people. On his later years of paintings hinted with melancholy. Besides, it was worth knowing that Edvard Munch at the beginning of his art career was inspired by Heyerdahl.

Harald Sohlberg

Harald Sohlberg (1869-1935) was a Norwegian painter embracing Neo-romanticism. His works were mainly landscape scenes in Norway. He used rich colors to enrich vision sensation and as a form of exploration between the outer world of nature and the inner human essence.

Jean Heiberg

Jean Heiberg (1884-1976) was a Norwegian painter, sculptor, designer, and art professor. His paintings can be classified as Expressionism, Modern art and some of them can be seen as Figurative art as a Female Nude painting is shown above. One of the significant achievements was his design of the Ericsson Bakelite telephone which claimed to be the world’s first “hookless” telephone.

Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch (1863-1944) was a Norweigan painter involving Naturalism, Impressionism, Post-impressionism which some of his early works were adopted the style of Éduoard Manet, also Symbolism and Realism. Nevertheless some of his famous works and significant achievements of embracing Expressionism. His famous works were deeply and heavily presented the emotional crisis of Munch, the level of texture created a touching effect and connected the admirers as the paintings speak for themselves. Besides, Munch’s works cover writing and sketching.

Karl Schmidt Rottluff

Karl Schmidt Rottluff (1884-1976) was a German painter, printmaker, sculptor and an appointed professor at his late age. On his early artworks were embracing Neo-impressionism and Art Nouveau, and later his artworks were associated with Expressionism as his painting style had changed in a certain period. However, he was known for his use of vivid colors, rough and shape lines, and finish of untouched. Besides, he was classified as one of the prolific artists.

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was a Spanish painter, printmaker, sculptor, ceramicist, stage designer, associating works of realism, symbolicism, neoclassicism, and surrealism concerning primitivism and eroticism. Also, he was one of the founders of cubism. The diversity of artworks he produced in terms of techniques, ideas, and styles in different periods. Also, being a prolific artist that he gained much attention from art collectors and admirers. He was one of the most influential artists in the 20th century and his name was known on a worldwide level.

Erich Heckel

Erich Heckel (1883-1970) was a German painter, woodcuts and prints maker. He admired Edvard Munch’s artworks. He formed a group named Die Brücke with 2 other members, which aimed to create a transition between Neo-romanticism and Expressionism forms of paintings.

Base on the source, the National Gallery (Nasjonalgalleriet) was closed on 13 January 2019 and it will re-open an estimated time of the year 2021 spring with a new name of the New National Museum at a new address near Oslo City Hall. Please visit their website at www.nasjonalmuseet.no for further information.

Thank you for reading. 

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