On day four in Oslo we woke early to get to the Edvard Munch Museum for 10am. Most of the museum’s 11 floors are dedicated solely to Munch’s artwork so it’s an amazing way to see the full range of his brilliance from his early paintings to those of his later years.
Three versions of his most famous painting, The Scream – a block print, crayon, and painting – feature prominently on the fourth floor and rotate every half hour so you need to go back at least a couple of times if you want to see all three. The painting draws the largest crowd, and people even like to take selfies with it.
My favourites were on a separate floor and include just a few, monumental canvasses with images of the sun shining over Norwegian seaside landscapes.
Kevin, Rowan and I were familiar with some of Munch’s paintings, but we all fell in love with his artwork and were super glad to have had a few hours to go through this impressive collection.
After the museum and a beautiful vegetable lunch at Koie Ramen, we jumped on a tram to Vigeland Park, to walk along pristinely ordered gardens and view monumental sculptures by Gustav Vigeland, including dozens of bronzes along a bridge and around a fountain, and a massive granite monolith and a “Circle of Life” at the end of a garden path.
The sculptures are of nudes – men, women, children and infants, with wonderfully varied expressions and poses. It’s lovely to take a look at each one and admire Vigeland’s prowess as a sculptor.
After a short walk back to JP and N’s beautiful home, we went out for a sushi dinner at Alex Sushi, where we had the best vegetarian maki and nigiri we’ve ever had!
Oslo is outstanding and easy to fall in love with – and we find it hard to believe we’re leaving in just two days.
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