Norway's new Munch Museum to open in October

View of the new Munch Museum building in Oslo, Norway / Courtesy of Munch Museum

By Kwon Mee-yoo

"No longer shall I paint interiors with men reading and women knitting. I will paint living people who breathe and feel and suffer and love," Norwegian artist Edvard Munch once said. Best known for his expressive works, Munch donated a large portion of his oeuvre to the city of Oslo upon his death, laying foundation for the Munch Museum, or MUNCH, dedicated to the artist.

Some 27,000 works of art by the Norwegian artist, including the iconic "The Scream," will be together under one roof once again as the MUNCH in Oslo will open its new building on Oct. 22, after some 18 months of delays due to construction issues and the pandemic.

"We have looked forward to this so much. The new MUNCH will exceed your expectations, because there's going to be so much happening here. I think that you have to come back several times to be able to see all the exhibitions and all the other activities that we are going to present," Stein Olav Henrichsen, director of MUNCH, said last Thursday during a press conference announcing the new museum's opening date.

After Munch's oeuvre was bequeathed to the city of Oslo, the Munch Museum opened in 1963, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth. The original Toyen building was a good home to Munch's works, but became more famous when “The Scream” and “Madonna” were stolen in 2004 and the city government decided to build a new museum building in the Bjorvika area in 2008.

"This museum is, first of all, a museum for a single artist. Edvard Munch is probably the most important contribution from Norway to global art heritage. And he is still relevant today, 80 years after his death. When we have exhibitions abroad, people are running to see and experience him. He means a lot to people all over the world."

Munch is also popular in Korea and his first major exhibit in Korea "Edvard Munch and the Modern Soul" in 2014 was held in cooperation with the MUNCH. The exhibition attracted large crowds here who wanted to see a lithograph version of "The Scream" as well as other works by the Norwegian artist.

"Munch would be astonished to see the enormous relevance he has all over the world. I don't think he could have anticipated that kind of effect that his art has now, 80 years after he died," Henrichsen said. "It would be very interesting to see how many people will come visit us, not only from our own city and country, but also from the international art-interested public.”

"The Scream" by Edvard Munch / Courtesy of Munch Museum

The new museum's program will present works by Munch as well as his influences and related artists.

The main body of work will be from the MUNCH's collection. Munch experimented with various media and techniques at the edge of modernism and the museum's extensive collection ranges from some 27,000 artworks by Munch to over 10,000 pieces of writings by the artist and other archival materials.

"He wrote all his life and he didn't throw away anything. So there is a lot of possibility in this collection," Henrichsen said.

Munch's works will be shown in several exhibitions in different themes. "Infinite" will show big hitters as well as lesser-known works. There will be a room dedicated to the famous “The Scream.” The museum has several versions of "The Scream," from an early study in pastel created in 1893 to a painted version in 1910, and at least one version will be on show, on a rotating basis.

“The works are really fragile and cannot take too much light, so we don't have windows (for the exhibition hall). But you can see one of them and see the point when Munch felt that nature was screaming at him. He had this angst and anxiety and created this work in many different formats,” Henrichsen explained.

Among its exhibitions, "All Is Life" will feature contents from an album, in which Munch assembled drawings, prints and texts. In "Monumental," visitors will encounter some of the largest paintings by Munch.

The highlight of the museum's opening program is "The Loneliness of the Soul," a joint exhibition of Munch and British artist Tracey Emin. The exhibit will explore Munch's influence on Emin and present Emin's works alongside pieces by Munch from the museum's collection and those selected by Emin, shedding light on how Munch's legacy lives on.

Located on the edge of Oslofjord, the new museum building is designed by Estudio Herreros and has become a new landmark of Oslo, visible from any part of the city.

"MUNCH is a new reference point in Oslo's skyline that gives locals and visitors an overview and orientation within the city, the surrounding mountains and the Oslofjord. The museum will help visitors to experience and learn about the history of the city, establishing a strong connection between the urban development of the city and the art of Edvard Munch," lead architect Juan Herreros said.