About the Collection
MUSIC & CULTURE
The Grieg Collection is an art collection owned by the Grieg family and the Grieg Foundation.
The Grieg Art Collection
Grieg Art in the workplace
The collection features works by key Norwegian artists such as J.C. Dahl, Harriet Backer, Edvard Munch, Peder Balke, Nikolai Astrup, Inger Sitter and Ole Jørgen Ness. The art collection is the main pillar of Oseana, an art centre that was a gift from Grieg Foundation.
Peder Balke Nordkapp 1848
A passion for art
Per Grieg Sr´s passion for art started in high school and became a lifelong interest. Initially, his art collection focused on the ‘golden age’ in Norwegian painting, one dominated by artists such as Christian Krohg, Frits Thaulow, Eilif Peterssen, Harald Sohlberg and Ludvik Karsten. In later years, as his children also have become avid collectors, the collection has grown to include contemporary art including works by central artists from several periods in Norwegian art history.
‘Art penetrates your faculties of reception, enters your soul and gives you an extraordinary experience.’
– Per Grieg Sr.
Other Nordic countries are also represented with works by artists such as Carl Larsson and Anders Zorn. More recently, the Grieg Foundation has acquired art by key contemporary Norwegians such as Marit Victoria Wulff Andreassen, Sverre Bjertnes and Kjell Erik Killi Olsen.
The collection features works by artists from Vestlandet: Xan Krohn and Julie de Holmberg Krohn, Knud and Nils Bergslien and Bernt Tunold, as well as contemporary artists such as Jan Erik Willgohs, Line Hvorslef, Siren Blytt and Bjarne Svanøe.
The Staircase Gallery
Grieg-Gaarden, the headquarters for the Grieg Group in Bergen, was designed to house the art collection and is in many ways a small art gallery. We call it the Staircase gallery. Today, paintings from the Grieg Collection adorn both the offices in Bergen and in Oslo. The employees in the Grieg Group feel a strong sense of ownership to the art collection.
Oseana
Through a unique public-private partnership, and with Greig Foundation at the forefront, Oseana Art- and Cultural Centre became a reality in 2011. Oseana lies between the sky and the fjord, in the midst of the magnificent nature of Western Norway. The 600 square metres exhibition room has a large glass façade towards Bjørnafjorden, the mountain Melderskin and the glacier Folgefonna. Next to this gallery space is Galleri Hvelvet, a smaller room for temporary exhibitions. In addition to housing the Grieg Art Collection, Oseana has a theatre stage, a cinema and a restaurant.
Oseana by night
