Renzo Piano’s Astrup Fearnley Museum
Renzo Piano’s glass sailboat
After the Opera House, Oslo’s latest pride is the Astrup Fearnley Museum designed by Renzo Piano. This top architect designed Centre Pompidou in Paris and The Shard in London and directed the complete renovation of Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. The 80-million-euro futuristic building sparkles on the Oslo Fjord, with its glass roof shaped like the sail of a three-master. The art is also sometimes very explicit, ranging from the campy Blow Job by Jeff Koons to the pre-operative genitals by Damien Hirst.
Art in the Stenersen Museum
The treasures of the immensely rich Stenersen
During his lifetime, the extremely wealthy Rolf Stenersen put together a prestigious collection of Norwegian modernistic, realistic and avant-garde art from 1850 to 1970. After his death, he donated 300 paintings and hundreds of sketches and drawings to the City of Oslo. These, together with 2 other private collections, can now be admired at the Stenersen Museum near Aker Brygge. The showpieces are paintings by Edvard Munch, Ludvig Karsten and Amaldus Nielsen.
Museum of Modern Art in Oslo
Modern art in a bank vault
The rigid façade of the old bank building in no way reveals the small but lovely museum behind it, filled with post-war art. Outside, on the Bankplassen, a large work of art called Shaft by Richard Serra is slowly growing rusty, while the art nouveau interior of granite and marble is home to a rotating collection of 5,000 works and refreshing temporary exhibitions. There is also a conveniently arranged museum shop and nice café. The admission ticket is valid for another 3 National Museum locations.
