Oslo's city centre National Gallery is Norway's main museum of visual arts, housing both Norwegian and international works. Highlights range from Picassos and Venetian masters, to a version of Edvard Munch's famous The Scream.
The gallery was established in 1836, and had more or less reached its present form by 1924. It contains extensive collections of sculpture, paintings, drawings and prints, with exhibitions covering a wide spectrum of topics, ranging from ancient Hellenic art to contemporary European artists. Its primary purpose is to collect and represent all major movements within Norwegian pictorial art, but as far as it can it also seeks to acquire and represent what it can of interesting, canonic and/or relevant international work.
Throughout the year various exhibitions are held, at times attracting major international works. It is not uncommon to stumble across Picassos or ancient Venetian masters like Tintoretto in this remarkably pro-active gallery.
The pride of the gallery is the extensive collection of Munch originals it has collected over the years, which includes some of the artist's most exquisite works. Besides the hysterical Expressionist frenzy and angst of Scream, the fortunate visitor can peruse many other lesser-known masterpieces by the painter, including the sensuous Madonna, Ashes, the grotesque Dance of Life and the vulnerable, hesitant Puberty.