After years of delays the Munch Museum in Oslo has finally been given the green light to proceed. The Munch Museum which is currently housed in a rundown suburb, is a monographic art museum, dedicated to the life and work of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch.
It houses the world’s largest collection of Munch’s art, with almost 28 000 works in addition to personal effects, tools and even Edvard Munchs private library.The collection consists of 1,150 paintings, 17 800 prints, 7 700 drawings (including his 200 sketch-books), 21 sculptures and a number of photographs taken by Munch himself.
The museum’s programme also comprises film screenings, audio-guides, concerts, guided tours and lectures. Edvard Munch has a unique position among Nordic painters and is considered a pioneer in expressionism. The Munch Museum’s collection, left to the city of Oslo by Edvard Munch, consists of a large number of paintings, graphical prints and drawings. By constantly changing the exhibitions, the museum presents the variety in his production. Plans to move the Munch Museum to a new location on Oslo’s waterfront have been formally approved after four years of political stalemate.
The project stopped dead in a row over costs with political parties in opposition to the city government halting the plans. Now the new 12,000 sq ft (1115 sq m) glass structure will be built at the museum’s current location in a residential area called Toyen.The plans were officially approved by Oslo’s city council on Wednesday. The new museum is expected to cost 1.6bn kroner (£178m) and is due to open in 2018. Munch left his vast collection of artwork, including two versions of his masterpiece The Scream, to the city when he died in 1944.