The Nasjonalmuseet is the largest art museum in the Nordic countries. It opened on 11 June 2022 after seven years of planning and construction, bringing together collections that had previously been scattered across four separate museums: the National Gallery, the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Museum of Architecture. Moving more than 400,000 objects into the new building took over a year.
The museum occupies a massive new building at Vestbanen, the site of Oslo's former western railway station, right behind the Nobel Peace Center and next to Aker Brygge. The building was designed by the German firm Kleihues + Schuwerk, and its most striking feature is the Lyshallen, the Light Hall, a 2,400 square metre exhibition space on the top floor wrapped in translucent onyx alabaster that glows softly from within, especially at night. The permanent exhibition spans over 90 rooms across multiple floors, with roughly 6,500 works on display at any given time, covering everything from medieval religious art to contemporary installations.
The collection includes most of Norway's most celebrated paintings. There is a dedicated Munch room with several works that cannot be seen at the Munch Museum, including a version of The Scream that is always on display, unlike the rotating versions at Lambda. You will also find major works by J.C. Dahl, Harald Sohlberg, Harriet Backer, Adolph Tidemand and Hans Gude, alongside international pieces. The rooms are numbered, and the easiest way to see everything is to follow the sequence so you do not miss anything. The third floor hosts temporary exhibitions that change several times a year.
Plan at least two hours, more if you are genuinely interested in art. The museum can feel overwhelming due to its sheer size, so it is perfectly fine to pick the sections that interest you most and skip the rest.
The museum occupies a massive new building at Vestbanen, the site of Oslo's former western railway station, right behind the Nobel Peace Center and next to Aker Brygge. The building was designed by the German firm Kleihues + Schuwerk, and its most striking feature is the Lyshallen, the Light Hall, a 2,400 square metre exhibition space on the top floor wrapped in translucent onyx alabaster that glows softly from within, especially at night. The permanent exhibition spans over 90 rooms across multiple floors, with roughly 6,500 works on display at any given time, covering everything from medieval religious art to contemporary installations.
The collection includes most of Norway's most celebrated paintings. There is a dedicated Munch room with several works that cannot be seen at the Munch Museum, including a version of The Scream that is always on display, unlike the rotating versions at Lambda. You will also find major works by J.C. Dahl, Harald Sohlberg, Harriet Backer, Adolph Tidemand and Hans Gude, alongside international pieces. The rooms are numbered, and the easiest way to see everything is to follow the sequence so you do not miss anything. The third floor hosts temporary exhibitions that change several times a year.
Plan at least two hours, more if you are genuinely interested in art. The museum can feel overwhelming due to its sheer size, so it is perfectly fine to pick the sections that interest you most and skip the rest.