Henie Onstad Kunstsenter

When the Art Centre opened in 1968, the collection expanded over a period of around fifty years. The main thrust of the work consisted of such pioneers as Jacques Villon and Juan Gris on one side, and Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse on the other; pioneers who were to have a major impact on the development of the so-called “School of Paris”. The various directions that evolved from this are well represented within the collection. Most of the collection is work from the 1950s, split into two principal currents: on one side, the School of Paris’ lyrical work, inspired by nature, some of it based on more geometric abstractions, and, on the other, the more brutal, Nordic Expressionism, epitomized by the artists of the Cobra group.