Oseana Art Museum

See works by Munch, Kittelsen, Tidemann, Gude, J.C.Dahl, Anders Zorn and other Nordic artists in magnificent surroundings.

Simply by studying the paintings and then looking out through the panorama windows at the breathtaking view of the fjord and the mountains in the distance you can understand where the artists have got their inspiration. The Grieg Collection consists mainly of fine art paintings owned by the Grieg Foundation and others in the Grieg Group sphere. It has been collected through the past 50 years by the collection’s initiator, Per Grieg Sr. In addition to the permanent exhibition of the Grieg Collection, the gallery will also have temporary exhibitions by others. See www.oseana.no for more information and opening times.

The art museum is composed of large parts of shipowner Per Grieg Senior's collection of art. Alongside these works are separate exhibits which vary widely in both subject and art form; all set in the idyllic waterfront area and beach known as Mobergsvikjo, with wonderful sculptures and breathtaking views of the Bjørnefjord. Below, Per Grieg Senior himself describes the collection now housed at the art museum in Oseana:

The Grieg Collection

“The Grieg Collection is made up art, mainly pictorial art, owned by the Grieg Foundation and other persons within the Grieg Group. It has taken more than five decades to collect all the different works, and most pieces I have purchased personally. As a result, the collection is quite personal and does not have any overall strategy or boundaries but is rather based on works I find exciting at any given time. One main focus however, from an early stage, has been what is known as the Golden Age of Norwegian painters. This covers art produced by painters born around the mid 19th century.

Among the artists featured are:

  • Christian Krohg
  • Frits Thaulow
  • Eilif Peterssen
  • Harald Sohlberg
  • Thorvald Erichsen
  • Nikolai Astrup
  • Ludvig Karsten
  • Erik Werenskiold
  • Theodor Kittelsen
  • Christian Skredsvig
  • Edvard Munch.

 

With the gradual birth of an ambition to compile a kind of miniature national gallery, artists from earlier periods were added to bring both breadth and depth, with names such as: J.C.Dahl, Eckersberg, Flintoe, Tidemand, Gude, Balke and Baade. More contemporary artists include Aulie, Ekeland, Enger, J. Johannessen, Heramb, Karl-Erik Harr, Gullvåg and Per Krohg.

More recently, we have attempted to supplement the collection with a number of West Norwegian artists such as Xan Krohn, Henrik Lund, Knud and Nils Bergslien, Bernt Tunold, Olav and Frida Rusti, Lars Osa and Ingebrigt Vik.

We also wanted to represent our neighbouring nations, Denmark and Sweden, and purchased the works of several painters from Skagen, such as Michael and Anna Ancher, L. Tuxen, wildlife painter Bruno Liljefors, the family romanticist Carl Larsson and Anders Zorn.