Norway

Discovered by chance in 1879 as a dirty rolled-up rag under the floorboards of the demolished Baldishol Church near Lake Mjøsa, and recognised for what it was only after a neighbouring family cleaned it; museum director H. A. Grosch bought it in 1887. Woven in wool and linen, radiocarbon-dated to 1040-1190 with the motifs themselves placed around 1180-1190, it depicts the months of April (a bearded man in a tunic) and May (an armoured knight on horseback) in a Romanesque style, and was probably once part of a longer twelve-month frieze. Whether it was woven in Norway or at a workshop abroad is not established.

“The Baldishol Tapestry is one of the very few tapestries made with the Gobelin technique prior to 1200 that have survived in Europe, and the only one of its kind in the Nordic countries.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Tales of Hungry Ghosts (Gaki zōshi) East Asia · Japan, Heian period, late 12th century

Judith and her maid Abra pause just after beheading the Assyrian general Holofernes - a quieter, more psychologically charged moment than Caravaggio's more violent treatment of the same subject shortly before 1600. The museum's own catalogue records the attribution as unsettled: the work is jointly credited to Orazio Gentileschi ("artist - uncertain") and his daughter Artemisia Gentileschi ("co-worker/assistant - uncertain"), since a 2019 article argued Artemisia painted this version herself; most art historians still favour Orazio, and the accepted 1608-1612 dating falls within the years Artemisia was active in her father's workshop, leaving open the possibility of a father-daughter collaboration.

“An article from 2019 argues that this version was also painted by Artemisia. But a majority of art historians still attribute this painting to Orazio Gentileschi.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Hasan’s cloak Islamic world · Last third of the 16th century, reworked mid-17th century

Sarpsfossen, on the Glomma river near Sarpsborg, was at the time Europe's most powerful waterfall and a symbol of Norway's timber-driven economy, its force harnessed by sawmills; tiny figures, cows and goats stand near the churning water's edge. On the far bank stands Hafslund Manor, at the time run by Maren Juel, who had inherited the estate and its lucrative sawmill operations from her first husband. Lorentzen painted the falls before industrialisation and dam-building tamed them.

“The water flow at Sarp Falls, known in Norwegian as Sarpsfossen, is 577 cubic metres of water per second.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Great Victory Chariot (Phra Maha Phichai Ratcharot) South Asia · Rattanakosin period, built 1795 CE (BE 2338)

A nearly two-by-two-and-a-half-metre mountain view down toward the Nærøy valley, painted sixteen years after Dahl's 1826 journey through Norway - his first visit home since leaving at 23 - based on sketches made on the old King's Road between Voss and Gudvangen. Two rainbows cross a dramatic rain-heavy sky over a resting flock of goats in the foreground, rendered with an almost photographic attention to individual blades of grass.

“Dahl made a trip to Norway in 1826... he wanted to visit Norway to experience and discover it, and to depict the Norwegian landscape.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Te Hau ki Tūranga Americas & Oceania · Built in the early 1840s

A sun-lit National Romantic view of a wedding party crossing the Hardangerfjord by boat, painted jointly in Düsseldorf: Adolph Tidemand supplied the figures in folk dress and the 23-year-old Hans Gude the mountain landscape. Created a generation after Norway's 1814 constitution, it became one of the defining images of "Norwegianness," reproduced widely as prints and later re-staged as both a tableau vivant and a ballet.

“This painting, which so strongly expresses the aesthetic ideals of the nineteenth century, has been revered as an "icon" by generations of Norwegians.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Jade Seal 'Đại Nam Thụ Thiên Vĩnh Mệnh Truyền Quốc Tỷ' South Asia · 1847, reign of Emperor Thiệu Trị, Nguyễn dynasty

Painted in Paris, where Backer had moved in 1878 as one of the first Norwegian women artists of her generation to do so, using her friend and fellow painter Asta Nørregaard as the model. Despite the title, it is daylight reflected from the window - not the room itself - that reads as blue, unifying a busy, colourful composition. The painting marks Backer's shift, under the influence of French plein-air painting and Impressionism, toward the everyday realist interiors that would define her career; it was exhibited in both Copenhagen and Kristiania the year it was painted, to wide praise.

“Blue Interior is one of her best known paintings in this genre.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Madame X (Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau) Americas & Oceania · 1883–84

A sickbed scene often linked to the death of Munch's older sister Sophie from tuberculosis in 1877, painted with thick layers of paint alternating with scraped, trickling lines that leave the canvas looking deliberately unfinished. First shown at the 1886 Autumn Exhibition under the neutral title "Study," it split opinion into outrage and acclaim and became a "scandalous success." Munch later painted five further versions; this original 1885-86 canvas was briefly exchanged for a later version in 1909 before the museum reacquired it in 1931.

“Hailed as Edvard Munch's breakthrough work, The Sick Child evinces his turn toward a more personal, expressive, and emotionally charged form of art.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Retrato de Doña Carlota Ferreira de Regunaga Americas & Oceania · c. 1883–88

A large Naturalist painting showing a young prostitute waiting, ashamed, in a police doctor's waiting room for the compulsory venereal-disease examination Kristiania's authorities required while otherwise tacitly tolerating prostitution. Krohg hired actual prostitutes as models, and the painting - tied to his own novel Albertine, which had just been confiscated by the Ministry of Justice over its rape scene - drew such crowds when shown on Rådhusgata in March 1887 that it became entangled in a real freedom-of-expression court case and remains one of the most fiercely debated works in Norwegian art history.

“It was regarded as scandalous when it was first exhibited, but now it is viewed as a success.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Retrato de Doña Carlota Ferreira de Regunaga Americas & Oceania · c. 1883–88

Painted during Monet's 1885 family excursion to the Normandy coastal village of Étretat, famous for its rock-arch formations; helped along by his large household, he began some fifty canvases that autumn by working on several in parallel. First shown at Kristiania's 1890 Autumn Exhibition, it was bought by the National Gallery that year - Monet's first painting ever acquired by a public collection.

“Étretat in the Rain, painted in 1886 by Claude Monet, is one of the most important paintings in the National Museum's collection.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Retrato de Doña Carlota Ferreira de Regunaga Americas & Oceania · c. 1883–88

A 22-year-old Munch, early in his career but already noticed in Norwegian artistic circles, presents himself with a scratched paint surface and a face wrapped in haze - a technique he used the same year in The Sick Child. Bought by the National Gallery in 1938 with funds from Olaf Schou; previously owned by the lawyer Harald Nørregaard, husband of the painter Aase Nørregaard, a close friend of Munch's.

“It is the arrogant and self-assured Bohemian we meet in this selfportrait from 1886.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Retrato de Doña Carlota Ferreira de Regunaga Americas & Oceania · c. 1883–88

Painter Oda Engelhart (née Lasson), smiling with hands on hips in a red summer blouse, painted outdoors at Hvitsten by Christian Krohg - her teacher since 1884 and, by 1888, her fiancé - a few months before their wedding. The portrait became an emblem of Oda's "bohemian princess" image within Kristiania's bohemian circle, an association Munch reinforced by paraphrasing the same pose, surrounded by "her" men, in his 1895 etching The Kristiania Bohemians II.

“The painting was painted outdoors on a summer's day in Hvitsten in 1888, only a few months before the couple married.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — A Poem on the Anatomy of the Eye (Qasida fi Tashrih al-Ayn) Islamic world · 1305 AH / 1887 CE (copy)

Painted in 1889, the year before van Gogh's death, in the wake of a long stay in a psychiatric hospital. The National Gallery bought it in 1910, but its unsigned, unfinished state and unusually gloomy expression later raised authenticity doubts serious enough that the museum ran a joint technical investigation with the Van Gogh Museum - comparing paint, canvas and colour to contemporaneous works and tracing the ownership history back to the Ginoux couple, who hosted van Gogh in Arles - before the painting was confirmed genuine.

“The painting was purchased by the National Gallery as early as 1910 and Edvard Munch was one of those who greatly enjoyed this artwork.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Bella Vista Americas & Oceania · 1889

Munch's own notebook records the walk at sunset over Kristiania (Oslo) fjord, seen from Ekeberg hill, that inspired this image of a distorted, screaming figure. The National Museum's picture, painted in tempera and crayon on fragile cardboard, is now understood to be the first of Munch's several versions of the composition - a later version (no earlier than 1910) belongs to the separate Munch Museum, also in Oslo. It is displayed under deliberately dim lighting to protect the fragile paint surface.

“it is now widely agreed that the National Museum's version was painted in 1893, and that of the Munch Museum no earlier than 1910” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Después de la Batalla de Curupaytí Americas & Oceania · 1893

Painted in Bø, Telemark in the summer of 1896, with fellow painter Torleiv Stadskleiv posing as the fiddler, this deliberately loose, atmospheric picture evokes the intensity of Telemark's traditional music and dance that had captivated Egedius since his first visit to the region in 1892. It is among the last major works of Egedius, who died in early 1899, not yet 22 years old.

“Though the painting Play and Dance is often referred to as "unfinished", it has nonetheless remained one of Halfdan Egedius's principal works.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Sleigh by the McLaughlin Carriage Company Americas & Oceania · Around 1896

A geometric, Cubist-influenced view of workers electrifying the Oslo-Drammen railway line at Høvik station in 1916. Lærum trained at Harriet Backer's painting school in Kristiania before studying Cubism in Paris in 1912 under Marie Vassilieff, and became known - like several other Cubist painters of the period - for her interest in the workers and machinery of modern industrial life.

“The artist who captured this scene of a group of workers on the tracks was Borghild Røed Lærum, one of Norway's leading Cubists.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — A estudante (The Student) Americas & Oceania · 1915–16

A handwoven wool-and-linen tapestry the museum's own records give the alternate English title "Fear. The Civil War in Spain," made by Hannah Ryggen (born in Malmö, Sweden, but based in Norway for her whole working life and long counted among its most important 20th-century artists) at her home in Ørlandet, Trøndelag, in 1936. It belongs to Ryggen's practice of using a traditional Norwegian weaving technique to respond directly to contemporary politics, here the Spanish Civil War and the rise of fascism in Europe.

“Fear. The Civil War in Spain” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗

Meanwhile — Primeros pasos Americas & Oceania · 1936

This is a full-size plaster cast (made by the Maison Poupinel workshop in Paris), not the ancient original - the real marble group, rediscovered in a Rome vineyard in 1506 and identified on the spot by Michelangelo among the Vatican's own experts, remains in the Vatican Museums. It depicts the Trojan priest Laocoön and his two sons crushed by sea serpents sent by Athena after Laocoön warned Troy against the wooden horse concealing the Greek army; the marble is itself thought to be a Roman-era copy of a lost Hellenistic bronze from Rhodes.

“Plaster casts were also made and sold to other museums around the world. So that we here today - can let ourselves be impressed by the very best of sculptural art from ancient Rome.” In the museum’s words — nasjonalmuseet.no ↗