Bergen Kunstmuseum (Bergen Art Museum)

Bergen Kunstmuseum (Bergen Art Museum) Review

An important Bergen institution and one of the largest museums in Norway, the Bergen Art Museum is housed in buildings along the Lille Lungegårdsvann lake. The museum divides into three separate collections, each housed in a different building.The large, neoclassical Lysverket building, farthest south, used to house the municipal power company, but was bought by the city council and reopened as an art museum in 2003. The permanent exhibit showcases both medieval icons and Dutch Renaissance masters.

The Stenersen Collection, found in the northernmost museum building, is an extremely impressive collection of modern art for a town the size of Bergen. Modern artists represented include Max Ernst, Paul Klee, Vassily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso, and Joan Miró, as well as Edvard Munch. There's also a large focus here on Norwegian art since the mid-18th century.

The star of the complex, though, is undoubtedly the middle building that houses the Rasmus Meyer Collection. When the businessman Rasmus Meyer (1858-1916) was assembling his superb collection of works by what would become world-famous artists, most of them were unknowns. On display are the best Edvard Munch paintings outside Oslo, as well as major works by J. C. Dahl, Adolph Tidemand, Hans Gude, Harriet Backer, and Per Krogh. Head to the Blumenthal Room to see a fine 18th-century interior and some incredible frescoes.The NKR 50 ticket gets you into all three collections all day; feel free to break for a picnic lunch outside when you get peckish, then head back in for more.