Jan Kokkin

Norwegian Pioneer
of Modernism

arnoldsche ART PUBLISHERS

Munthe_layout_EN_FINAL_23042018.indd 3 23.04.18 15:15

 © 2018 Arnoldsche Art Publishers,
Stuttgart, and the author
All rights reserved. No part of this work
may be reproduced or used in any form
or by any means (graphic, electronic or
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www.arnoldsche.com
AUTHOR
Jan Kokkin
PROJECT COORDINATOR
Greta Garle, Arnoldsche Art Publishers
COPY EDITING
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BIBLIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
PUBLISHED BY THE DEUTSCHE
NATIONALBIBLIOTHEK
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this
publication in the Deutsche Nationalbib-
liografie; detailed bibliographic data are
available on the Internet at www.dnb.de.
ISBN 978-3-89790-517-7
Made in Europe, 2018
Munthe_layout_EN-NOR_FINAL_25042018_RM-na.indd 4
PHOTO CREDITS
Anno Museum, Glomdalsmuseet, Elverum:
Fig. 29. Bergen Universitetsiblioteket,
photo: Atelier KK: Fig. 208, 240; photo:
O. Væring: Fig. 227. Bergen Bibliotek:
Fig. 202. Blomqvist Kunsthandel, Oslo:
Figs. 139, 184. Bymuseet i Bergen: Figs. 48,
75. Casey A. Lupetin: Fig. 146. Centre
Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne,
Paris (MNAM-CCI): Fig. 245. Dalane
Folkemuseum, Egersund: Fig. 17. Design
Museum, Helsinki: Fig. 77. Designmuseum
Danmark, Copenhagen, photo: Pernille
Klemp: Fig. 182, 183. Det kongelige slott,
Oslo, photo: Kjartan Hauglid, De kongelige
samlinger: Figs. 58, 62, 72. Jens Hamran:
Figs. 22, 76, 127, 130, 134–133, 142, 143,
160–162, 166, 175, 176. Halvard Haugerud:
Figs. 160, 161, 173, 174. Kaiser Wilhelm
Museum, Krefeld: Fig. 57. Kalevalaseura,
Helsinki: Fig. 248. KODE, Bergen
Kunstmuseum: Fig. 43; photo: Dag Fosse:
Figs. 4, 23, 24, 28, 83–86, 93–98, 103,
105, 117, 181, 209–214, 219, 220,
222–226, 232, 234, 235, 241–243. Jan
Kokkin: Figs. 128, 154, 155, 196, 199, 231,
238, 239. Kunstmuseen, Krefeld: Fig. 53.
Missouri History Museum, St. Louis: Fig. 65.
Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris: Fig. 27.
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg:
Fig. 47. Musea i Sogn og Fjordane, photo:
Berhanu Mekonen: Fig. 74. Nasjonalbiblio-
teket, Oslo: Figs. 6, 21, 32, 40, 91, 92, 121,
119, 125, 147, 150, 157, 158, 165, 177, 194,
201, 216, 217, 228, 237, 249. Nasjonalmu-
seet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo:
Figs. 79, 203, 221, 229, 230, 233, 236;
photo: Anne Hansteen Jarre: Figs. 31, 73,
87, 107; photo: Andreas Harvik: Figs. 35,
44, 46; photo: Børre Høstland: Figs. 2,
9–13, 15, 25, 33, 121, 131–133, 140, 141,
144, 145, 148, 149, 151–152, 156, 186, 188,
191, 195; photo: Therese Husby: Figs. 36,
37, 78, 80, 81, 82, 185; photo: Dag André
Ivarsøy: Fig. 137; photo: Frode Larsen:
Figs. 16, 18, 34, 153, 178, 187, 192, 193;
photo: Jacques Lathion: Figs. 99–101, 110;
photo: Knut Øystein Nerdrum: Fig. 26;
photo: Morten Thorkildsen: Figs. 14, 38,
102, 164, 167, 197, 198; photo: Jeanette
Veiby: Fig. 116. Leif Nilsen: Fig. 200. N. M.
Thunes arkiv, Oslo Byarkiv: Fig. 189.
Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum,
Trondheim: Figs. 60, 68, 70; photo: Rune H.
Hansen: Fig. 56; photo: Steffen W. Holden:
Figs. 62, 88; photo: Thor Nielsen: Figs. 61,
66. Norsk ­Folkemuseum, Oslo: Figs. 41, 110,
111, 114, 115, 122, 126, 206; photo: Anders
Beer Wilse: Fig. 106. Oslo Museum:
Figs. 20, 54, 247. Oddbjørn Erland Aarstad: THIS TRANSLATION HAS BEEN
Fig. 42. Øystein Thorvaldsen: Fig. 45. PUBLISHED WITH THE FINANCIAL
Røhsska Museet, Gothenburg, photo: SUPPORT OF:
Mikael Lammgård: Fig. 59. Sørlandets
Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand, photo: Alf
Georg Dannevig: Fig. 49. Kjell S. Stenmarch:
Fig. 112. Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische
Landesmuseen, Schloss Gottorf: Fig. 55.
Sture Nepstad: Fig. 51, 173, 172. Teigens
Fotoatelier: Fig. 67. Telemark Museum:
Figs. 179, 180. Trondheim kunstmuseum: THIS BOOK HAS BEEN PRODUCED WITH
Figs. 89, 90. University of Oslo Art THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF
Collection: Fig. 159. O. Væring Eftf. A/S:
Figs. 8, 104, 120, 123, 163, 168, 169. © VG Gert W. Munthe/North Murray
Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2018 for Jens Ferdinand
KODE, Kunstmuseer og komponisthjem,
Willumsen: Fig. 19.
Bergen
Lagåsen AS
COVER ILLUSTRATIONS
Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum,
Gerhard Munthe, The Suitors. 1903.
Trondheim
184 × 219 cm. Nasjonalmuseet for kunst,
­arkitektur og design. Photo: Frode Larsen NHH, Norges Handelshøyskole
David Werner
Back: Fig. 62: Trees and Lothringer Cross.
1896. Sketch for carpet. Nordenfjeldske and
Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim. Photo:
Kulturrådet (Arts Council Norway)
Steffen W. Holden. Fig. 122: The Fairy-Tale
Chair. Photo: Norsk Folke­­museum, Oslo.
Fig. 148: Griffins. 1903. Watercolour. Sketch
for wall frieze in the former Kunstindustri­
museet, Oslo. Nasjonalmuseet for kunst,
Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur
arkitektur og design, Oslo. Photo: Børre
og design, Oslo
Høstland. Fig. 16: ‘Blue Anemone’. 1893.
Porcelain plate. Nasjonalmuseet for kunst,
arkitektur og design, Oslo. Photo: Frode
Larsen.
Endpapers: photo: The National Library,
Oslo
THE AUTHOR HAS RECEIVED SUPPORT
FROM DET FAGLIT TERÆRE FOND AND
STIFTELSEN ORD OG FORM.
30.04.18 16:21
 CONTENTS

6  FOREWORD 199  DECORATIVE ARTS AND DESIGN

New Design for Porsgrund Porcelain Factory / Silver / Furniture /
8  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Bookbinding and Graphic Design / Bookplates / Munthe’s Type-
face  / Toys
9  INTRODUCTION
225  HÅKONSHALLEN, BERGEN
17  GERHARD MUNTHE AS A THEORETICIAN The Restoration / The Embellishment Commission / Criticism of
Munthe’s Plan / Former Prime Minister Michelsen Stops the Pro-
23  EARLY DECORATIVE ART AND DESIGN ject  / Munthe Starts His Work / The Hall’s Decoration. ‘Solemnity,
‘Homeless in our own living rooms’ / Wallpaper / Porcelain festivity and grandeur in a genuine medieval spirit’ / The Kristina
Frieze / The Catastrophe / The Verdict – Munthe’s ‘horror vacui’
35  THE FAIRY-TALE WATERCOLOURS
‘He creates a completely new art’ / The Black and White Exhibition  / 267 LEGACY
‘A Norwegian colour instinct’ / Success in Europe
275 Notes
57 TAPESTRY 287 Biography
A Norwegian Renaissance in Weaving / A Serious Competitor / 290 Literature
‘Sigrun was weaving, and I was winding balls of yarn’ / Scherrebek  / 294 Index
Munthe and Deneken in Krefeld / The Weaving School in Trond-
heim / The World’s Fair in Paris, 1900 / The World’s Fair in St. Louis,
1904 / The Norwegian Home Crafts Association / Other Tapestry
Artists

97  BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS

The Sagas of the Old Norwegian Kings / Pictorial Subjects in Snorre  /
The Style in Snorre / The Viking Monument in Rouen / ‘The Dream
Ballad’ / Gerhard Munthe’s Dream Ballad / Åsmund Frægdegjævar /
The Big Serpent, The Dance in the Mountain and Other Ballad Illus-
trations / Norwegian Ballads / Other Ballad Illustrators

135  PRIVATE AND PUBLIC ROOM DECORATION

Leveld, Lysaker – Munthe as Architect / The Fairy-Tale Room,
­Holmenkollen Tourist Hotel, Kristiania / Strand Farm, Numedal /
Dining Room, Josef Petersmann’s House, Leipzig / Dining Room,
Jakobine Mowinckel’s House, Haugboløkken, Asker / Dining Room,
Cathinco Bang’s House, Kristiania / Kunstindustrimuseet, Kris-
tiania  / Kongsdelene Chapel, Hurum / Sala Norvegese, the Venice
Biennale, 1907 / The Assembly Hall for Kristiania’s University /
­Kristiania Stock Exchange / Dining Room, Kristian Brandt’s House,
Kristiania / Room Decoration for the Shipowner Anton Fredrik Kla-
veness, ­Lysaker and Enebakk / Stupet, Conrad Mohr’s House in
Bergen / Lille Reistad Farm, Lier / Christian Strøm’s House, ­Kristiania

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INTRODUCTION
The artistic practice of Gerhard Munthe (1849–1929) (Fig. 2) was re-
markably diverse. He began with painting landscapes in a tradition-
al Romantic Düsseldorf style inspired by his relative Ludvig Munthe
but became one of the most original forerunners of Modernism in
European art and design in the late nineteenth century.
Munthe was involved in the international Art Nouveau move-
ment around 1900, but his designs have few or none of the stylistic
elements typical for Art Nouveau. They lack the sinuous lines and
whiplash curves of Victor Horta’s opulent architecture or of Hector
Guimard’s famous railings and signs for the Paris Metro. Nor did
Munthe use the straight-lined geometrical shapes that we find in
the Scot Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s furniture and interiors. It has
often been claimed that Art Nouveau was not a style but a move-
ment,1 which is why it had so many expressions in so many coun-
tries, from the USA in the west to Hungary in the east.2
In Norway Munthe created a personal and original version of
Art Nouveau that was inspired primarily by Norwegian folk art,
Norse mythology, Japanese art and the French Synthetism de­
veloped by Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard. Synthetism was intro-
duced in Scandinavia by the Danish artist Jens Ferdinand Willum-
sen (1863–1958), who had been a student of Gauguin in Pont-Aven.
The style emphasises the pictorial plane and strong colours and
contours highly inspired by Japanese art. Ornamentation also plays
a key role, with emphasis on simple abstract forms. Munthe’s dec-
orative style emerged through a series of watercolours produced
during 1891–93 and became the starting point for tapestries, wall-
paper production and porcelain. In addition there were his vignettes
and illustrations for Snorri Sturluson’s (1178/1179–1241) Heimskrin­
gla (The Sagas of the Old Norwegian Kings;1899) – a collection of
sagas about ancient Norwegian kings – which were rendered not
only as tapestries but also as silver brooches and décor on porcelain
and silver.
Gerhard Munthe, the architect Harald Olsen and the designer
Gustav Gaudernack were amongst the first to create designs for the
applied arts industries in Norway. Olsen designed glass objects for
the retailer Christiania Glasmagasin as early as the 1880s, and
Gaudernack began doing so in 1891, after moving to Kristiania from
Vienna.3 At the same time, Munthe designed porcelain dinner ser-
vices for the Porsgrunds Porselænsfabrik (Porsgrund Porcelain
Munthe_layout_EN_FINAL_23042018.indd 9
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS / INTRODUCTION
Factory) and wallpaper patterns for F.H. Frølich & Søn Wallpaper
Factory in Kristiania.4 The three would also become important de-
signers for the goldsmith firm David-Andersen. Olsen and Gauder-
nack eventually became internationally influenced Art Nouveau
artists, with Olsen designing furniture and Gaudernack primarily
designing works for goldsmiths in plated silver and plique à jour
enamel.
Gerhard Munthe is considered a key Art Nouveau artist as well
as a Symbolist. One standard work, Robert Schmutzler’s Art Nou­
veau, highlights Munthe’s contribution to the weaving industry and
underscores the significance of the German journal Pan for encour-
aging pictorial artists to become active in the decorative arts.5 The
journal’s founder, the art historian Julius Meier-Graefe, promoted
Munthe in Europe by publishing an article by the Norwegian art
historian Andreas Aubert (1851–1913) in one of Pan’s first issues in
1895 (Fig. 1).6
Munthe’s decorative art was presented and discussed in almost
all the influential art journals in Europe. The editor of Emporium,
Vittorio Pica, characterised Munthe as ‘a decorative artist with a
unique imagination’.7 The artist’s tapestries were shown in several
large exhibitions in Europe, and some were also for sale in well-­
reputed shops, such as Hohenzollern Kunstgewerbehaus H. Hirsch­
wald in Berlin.8 In 1899 this shop exhibited the work Ekstase
­(Ecstasy), also called Burning Hearts or C’est ainsi que l’amour s’al­
lume dans le coeur (Fig. 3).
Munthe’s relation to both Art Nouveau and the Symbolist
movement makes it pertinent to consider him a typical ‘crossover’
artist and a precursor for Modernism in the early 1900s. The art
historian Edward Lucie-Smith claims that ‘Modernism [was] born
of the Symbolist Movement’.9 Modernism started in the late nine-
teenth century and developed, as I see it, in two main directions in
pictorial art and design/decorative arts. The one direction started
with the overturning of traditional perspective by Édouard Manet
and Paul Cézanne. Cézanne’s fragmentation of the pictorial plane
into geometrical forms was carried further by Pablo Picasso and
Georges Braque and ended with the Cubist revolution in art in 1910.
The second direction developed from the Synthetist paintings of
Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard in the late 1880s and progressed
to the abstract paintings of Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944),
­Kazi­mir Malevich and Paul Klee around 1910 onwards. This second
direction incorporated Symbolism and Art Nouveau in the 1890s
with its emphasis on lines, planes and ornamentation.10 These
23.04.18 15:15
 1  Pan, no. 3, 1895–96, with the article on Gerhard Munthe’s
decorative art by the critic Andreas Aubert.
movements in turn influenced the later Functionalist architecture
and design.11
Historians of craft and design consider Munthe to be the first
Modernist in Norway. The Art Nouveau expert Stephan Tschudi
Madsen wrote that ‘when calling a man a Modernist, if one means
a person who, by virtue of his work on behalf of decorative art or
craft, laid the foundation for the modern development within this
branch of art – then yes, Gerhard Munthe certainly was our first
Modernist’.12 Yet Tschudi Madsen does not mention Munthe with a
single word in his seminal book Sources of Art Nouveau (1956).13 He
concentrates on the Central European countries, claiming that the
other European countries had nothing to contribute to the devel-
opment of Art Nouveau. Tschudi Madsen does, however, make a
possible exception for Scandinavia, ‘with those salient aspects of
the Celtic revival, Sweden and Norway’s Dragon style or Viking Re-
vival style, which formed a symbiosis with Art Nouveau’.14
The English historian of art and design Paul Greenhalgh was
the main curator for the exhibition Art Nouveau 1890–1914 at the
10
Munthe_layout_EN_FINAL_23042018.indd 10
Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2000, where Munthe was
represented through both furniture and tapestry. In the catalogue
accompanying the exhibition, Greenhalgh considers Munthe as
one of the earliest Art Nouveau artists. Like several other art histor­
ians in recent years, he emphasises that the Art Nouveau move-
ment, despite its divergent expressions, had one characteristic that
defined it and held it together – namely, modernity: ‘Art Nouveau
was the first self-conscious, internationally based attempt to­
­transform visual culture through a commitment to the idea of the
modern.’15
The American art historian Patricia Berman links Gerhard
Munthe precisely to this modernity. She emphasises the importance
of Munthe’s combination of an international orientation with a ver-
nacular folk-art tradition with roots in the Middle Ages: ‘It was ul-
timately this fusion of Munthe’s combination of modernity and
tradition – his international “progressiveness” and his commitment
to national tradition – that established him as one of the most
important artists and theorists of the turn of the century.’16
23.04.18 15:15
 INTRODUCTION

2  Christian Krohg, Gerhard Munthe. 1885. Oil on canvas. 150 × 115 cm. Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo.

11

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23  The Blood Tower. C. 1890. Watercolour. 33.5 × 19 cm.
KODE, Bergen Kunstmuseum.
­(Norwegian Ballads), published by Magnus B. Landstad in 1853.
Munthe studied this book carefully, and it supplied him with many
subjects for later works based on medieval ballads, such as Åsmund
Frægdegjævar (Åsmund the Worthy), Lindarormen (The Big Serpent)
and Draumkvæde (The Dream Ballad). There is also reason to believe
that Munthe elaborated on the tradition of folk tales and folk songs
from his home region of Elverum and Solør. Folklore studies have
shown that well-known folk songs such as ‘The Evil Stepmother’,
‘Ridder Valivan’ (‘The Knight Valivan’) and ‘Agate og havmannen’ (‘Ag-
ate and the Merman’), among others, were traditionally sung in Solør
and continued to be sung when Munthe was growing up in Elverum.35
The most grotesque and imaginative of Munthe’s fairy-tale
­watercolours are probably some of the earliest: The Blood Tower
(Fig. 23), In the Giant’s Lair and The Horse of Hel. The first of these in
particular reveals a gravitation towards the Middle Ages, the an-
cient Nordic past and a sinister mythology. The artist described the
motif in the following way: ‘Down by the sea lives a troll that eats
human flesh, and the Christian boy has to lure the ships to the
tower’.36 Munthe wrote about the background for these pictures:
‘There was an early age, a grim era when trolls were never stupid
in a good-hearted way but cunning giants, a time when all was
40
Munthe_layout_EN_FINAL_23042018.indd 40
blood and iron and far more terrible. It is of this that the sagas and
the most ancient folk ballads tell.’37 The grotesque trolls with their
long noses and skeletal arms reappear in the foreboding work In
the Giant’s Lair (Fig. 24). The theme of this picture is from the folk
song ‘Venill fruva og Drembedrosi’ (‘Venill Fruva and Drembedrosi’),
which describes trolls rowing Venill Fruva into their lair in the blue
mountain.38 It is not unthinkable that Munthe also drew inspiration
from Jonas Lie’s novel Trold (Troll). A sign of Munthe’s appreciation
for the author was that at Christmastime in 1894 he sent In the
Giant’s Lair to Lie, who was surprised and happy about the gift: ‘This
is surely one of the most powerful works you have made; the troll
tale is so characteristic and imaginative, so drastically simple in
how it is painted […] – a masterpiece of poetry with the paint-
brush.’39 Lie himself was inspired to resume writing about trolls:
‘Something in it incites me to rewrite Troll, to enter the subcon-
scious and draw them out.’40
Herman Bang also compared Munthe’s fairy-tale watercolours
with Lie’s novel:
His ‘legends’ are the ‘Trold’ of painting. […] When seen or read separately,
Munthe’s and Lie’s works will be difficult for non-Norwegians to under-
stand. But the day they work together and unite their creative power, all
eyes will see it – and the collaboration will immediately render the work
a classic. One will understand that these fairy tales are the foundation of
Norwegian ideas. They are the ground from which the people’s tempera-
ment is spun.41
The Horse of Hel (Fig. 25) is a grim vision indeed: a fatigued and pallid
knight with sword and shield rides the green-flecked black horse of
Hel. He has been struck in the back with an arrow and rides ever
onward towards the web-toed woman Hel, who awaits him at the
gate of her realm of death. She has pale blue skin and a cape dec-
orated with red bats. At her side a bloodthirsty bear-like creature is
licking her hand. Her brother, the monster-wolf Fenrir, looms from
the waves in a double figure, ferocious and blood-red. The fire in
Hel, black as night, flickers beyond the gate. The sinister mood is
completed by the bats flapping above and below the horse and
rider, and by the bloody arrows pointing up and down in the top
border. The strong colours underscore the ominous mood. Strange
Japanising elements are the wave-like forms to the left in the pic-
ture; they take shape as clawing hands that recall Katsushika
­Hokusai’s famous picture The Wave.
23.04.18 15:17
 24  In the Giant’s Lair. 1892. Watercolour. 76.5 × 111.2 cm. KODE, Bergen Kunstmuseum.

25  The Horse of Hel. 1892. Watercolour. 79 × 112.9 cm. Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo.

41

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Munthe_layout_EN_FINAL_23042018.indd 57 23.04.18 15:18
 48  Augusta Christensen. 1882. 49  Kristine Johannessen. C.1880.
Bymuseet i Bergen. Private collection.
Bergen and was the daughter of the ship captain Jacob Christensen
and Anne Margrete Christensen (née Bierch). As the daughter of a
sailor, it was natural for her to join her father on trips, even to Af-
rica. There is a picture of her in Odessa, elegantly dressed, which
shows that she was a member of the upper middle class. Kristine
Johannessen (née Serck), also from a well-to-do family from Bergen,
married the timber merchant Conrad Kroepelien Johannessen,
who, incidentally, died in 1900 at only fifty years of age.
Augusta Christensen once talked about how she started weav-
ing: ‘I saw, in “Juleroser”, a work by Munthe, and it kindled my en-
thusiasm. I went to the school of Miss Frisak, and while working I
developed the idea of breaking up the boring surfaces with dyed
wool and homespun yarn.’28 As early as 1895 Augusta Christensen
is said to have shown a test piece to Munthe. He reproached her for
using his drawing without permission. Nevertheless he painted a
tapestry cartoon for her that she later used to weave The Suitors.29
Munthe gave Christensen clear instructions: ‘The yarn must be
coarse-spun so the technique can be seen. Soft yarn makes the
weaving fuzzy (like knitted fabric) and steals the character of the
weaving.’30 But when it came to plant dyes, which Frida Hansen
made a point of using, Munthe had less strong opinions. He thought
plant dyes were often used in too many nuances that caused the
tapestry colours to appear pale, and he thought this broke with the
traditional Norwegian colours.31 He was happy to use chemical
dyes, since they often resulted in colours that could not otherwise
be achieved. Natural dyes, however, had become an important el-
ement in the new Norwegian weaving, and several researchers were
keen to collect traditional plant-dye recipes. In 1893 the first colour
66
Munthe_layout_EN_FINAL_23042018.indd 66
manual was published by Kristiane Frisak, who taught at the Stat-
ens kvinnelige industriskole.32 It was thought at the time that plant
dyes were more durable than chemical dyes.33
In October 1896 Justus Brinckmann (1843–1915), one of the
most prominent personalities in the field of European applied arts,
commissioned a Munthe tapestry for the Museum für Kunst und
Gewerbe in Hamburg. He had seen Munthe’s watercolours at an
international exhibition in Berlin that year and wanted either Afraid
of the Dark or The Suitors but left the choice to Munthe. The artist
thought The Suitors (Fig. 47) was best for a weaving, and the com-
mission was given to Augusta Christensen. The tapestry was shown
at Almänna konst- och industriutställningen (Art and Industry Ex-
hibition) in Stockholm in 1897. Jens Thiis wrote enthusiastically
about it in a report on the exhibition: ‘It was beyond compare, the
foremost textile work in the entire exhibition. […] Its purposeful and
artistically inspired execution was perfect, on par with the magnifi­
cent, decorative and imaginative composition.’34
Brinckmann was satisfied with Munthe’s choice and, in a state-
ment on The Suitors, also showed understanding of the general
character of the subject matter: ‘It is up to the viewer to develop a
fairy tale in the spirit of the folk ballads of old times.’35
In 1896 Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum in Bergen planned
an exhibition of Munthe’s fairy-tale watercolours and decorative
works. Johan Bøgh, on behalf of the art collector Rasmus Meyer,
wanted two watercolours rendered as tapestries. Munthe had to
decline due to having too much other work just then but mentioned
Augusta Christensen as the only person who could translate his
watercolours into weavings:
23.04.18 15:18
 TA P E S T R Y

50  The Bewitched Prince. 1896. Watercolour. 48.6 × 36 cm. Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand.

67

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 63  The World’s Fair, Paris. 1900. Munthe tapestries from the weaving school at Nordenfjeldske
Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim.
many years of development in Norwegian tapestry, and a result of
the efforts of two accomplished artists:
Even the most sanguine would not have expected a development such as
this, a series of works like the Jorsalfar tapestries, so soon. This combina-
tion of Mrs. Frida Hansen’s technical-artistic ability and Gerhard Munthe’s
creative energy belongs to the category of rare and happy circumstances
which society is duty-bound to protect and employ in its artistic culture.112
Munthe himself was unsatisfied with the Jorsalfar tapestries, even
though he recognised Hansen’s work: ‘Much technical expertise has
been invested in my Jorsalfar tapestries, and I gladly give praise on
that account – but in a strictly artistic sense, they cannot be called
successful and better than the originals, since the colours are so
different from those in my original compositions.’113 Restricted to
nuances of red, grey and brown, the colours render a pale impres-
sion in comparison with Munthe’s Sigurd Jorsalfar pictures (1899),
which are painted in strong and unmixed blue, green, yellow and
red.114
Aubert wanted to ensure that the Jorsalfar tapestries were pur-
chased by the state. He thought they would be suitable as embel-
lishments at crowning ceremonies in the cathedral in Trondheim
and that for this reason they should be the property of the nation.
Aubert also claimed the tapestries at the World’s Fair clearly ex-
pressed the country’s inherited sovereignty and should therefore
Munthe_layout_EN_FINAL_23042018.indd 83
function as a manifestation of Norway as an independent nation.
He had no hope that the state would buy the tapestries, the price
being set at 10,000 kroner. He trusted instead that the three Nor-
wegian museums of decorative art would pool their resources to
purchase the tapestries or that the museum in Kristiania would be
able to make such a large purchase. There were strong objections
in the parliament and in the press to granting that much money to
buy the tapestries. Consequently a group of private citizens (prob-
ably in 1901) contributed funds to purchase the works and have
them hung in the entrance hall of the Royal Palace in Kristiania.115
Despite Munthe’s discontent the Jorsalfar tapestries attracted
attention and won approval, not least from the textile jury in Paris.
In its report it said: ‘Norway’s production of tapestries and other
weavings has been a revelation to the whole world. This nation that
had no decorative art to present at the 1889 exhibition has since
then made tremendous progress.’116
The Norwegian tapestry section was reviewed in several inter-
national newspapers and journals. Julius Meier-Graefe highlighted
Munthe’s decorative sketches in the art section of the exhibition
but thought they were best rendered as tapestries: ‘One should
imagine them as large mosaics or tapestries, where the well-calcu-
lated fields of colour and the preferred straight lines are seen to
their best advantage. One is convinced of this when viewing another
section of the exhibition featuring Norwegian tapestries.’117 Meier-­
Graefe thought Norway was celebrating an unparalleled triumph
83
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 TA P E S T R Y
64  Sigurd Jorsalfar’s Entrance into Miklagard (Constantinople) (452 × 336 cm) and Sigurd and King Baldwin (456 × 340 cm). 1900. Tapestries. Det kongelige slott, Oslo.
with its ‘magnificent gobelins’. He emphasised Munthe’s efforts on
behalf of Norwegian tapestry weaving, claiming that the Scherre-
bek school, which was also represented in the exhibition, was a
lacklustre reflection of it: ‘Aside from technical imperfections, it
suffers particularly from the lack of an artist like Munthe.’118 One of
the foremost spokesmen for the Art Nouveau movement in France,
the author and art critic Gabriel Mourey, wrote about Munthe’s sub-
jects for tapestries: ‘Gerhard Munthe is one of the most unique
designers who conjures the most magnificent scenes of medieval
splendour and heroic deeds.’119
Other critics were less positive. The Scandinavian critics – who
had the best preconditions for understanding Munthe’s distinctive
art – presented objections. The Danish art historian Emil Hannover
thought the Norwegian artist had an ability ‘to construe something
similar to the forms presented in the excellent ancient Norwegian
tapestries. This is why it is easy to see the somewhat pronounced
Norwegian nationality in Munthe’s tapestries, but we have difficulty
84
Munthe_layout_EN_FINAL_23042018.indd 84
seeing any marked individuality in them’.120 Hannover thought it
was of value that Munthe had used his abilities to revive the nation-
al Norwegian taste ‘that coincides with our own but which is there-
fore no less suited to awakening our interest and envy, since we
ourselves feel the lack of anything comparable’.
The Danish and Swedish critics emphasised the typically Nor-
wegian character of Munthe’s art. Pietro Krohn claimed Munthe
was Norwegian to his fingertips: ‘Every picture Munthe has made
and every tapestry he has woven testifies to its Norwegian origin,
as if the word “Norway” was written across it in large letters.’121 The
two Jorsalfar tapestries in particular kindled the critics’ interest.
The Swedish author and women’s rights activist Ann Margret
Holmgren, who was a friend of many Norwegian artists, expressed
marked enthusiasm: ‘Never has his rooted national feeling received
a more saturated expression than in these Jorsal pictures, where he
unfurls his monumental and authentic Norwegian quality and pur-
sues the history-writing task to the smallest detail in the admirable
23.04.18 15:19
 68  Horses of the Sea. 1907. Tapestry. 69 × 172 cm. Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim.

been head of the art section at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893
and had travelled the world to study the management of art schools
and museums. Ives visited Scandinavia in 1902. On that occasion
he went to Lysaker and met Gerhard Munthe in his home. In a letter
to Munthe, he expresses a wish to have Munthe’s tapestries pre-
sented at the World’s Fair in 1904.132
Ulrikke Greve took responsibility for creating the collection of
tapestries for the St. Louis exhibition and was assisted by several
local weavers. In 1903 new watercolours by Munthe were pur-
chased, the idea being to render them as tapestries for St. Louis.
These included, among others, The Naiads, The Fairy-Tale Garden,
Mynder på sporsne (Greyhounds Following Tracks in the Snow, never
woven), The Archers, Krigens redsler (The Horrors of War, also called
69  Olaf Gulbransson, Gerhard Munthe Rides the Horses
Fakkelrytterne [The Torch Riders]) and Horses of the Sea.133 The fol- of the Sea. Drawing. Private collection.
lowing works were sent to the exhibition: The Fairy-Tale Garden, The
Naiads, The Wise Bird, The Yellow Hair, Hjørungavaag, Odin, Horses
of the Sea, Under Karlsvogna (Under the Plough [Saga]), The Suitors,
24 Women, The Golden Birds and The Blood Tower. There was also After the tapestries were exhibited at the museum in Trondheim,
a large floor carpet made by floss weaving, and two stair runners. they were sent to Kristiania and exhibited at Blomqvist Kunsthan-
Jens Thiis had great expectations for The Naiads (Fig. 66) and The del. This exhibition was reviewed by the young art historian Harry
Wise Bird (Fig. 67), which were woven by Greve herself: ‘I think Mrs. Fett, later to become the director of cultural heritage, who had
Greve has become an expert, confident and sensitive in her colour recently been given a position at the Norsk Folkemuseum (Norwe-
palette, and also much more confident about following the lines in gian Museum of Cultural History) at Bygdøy near Kristiania. He
a tapestry, because she now draws herself.’134 All in all Thiis thought noted that the tapestries from Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuse-
the weaving school would present a richer, more varied exhibition um were the only Norwegian works being sent to the exhibition at
in St. Louis than it had in Paris. He and the museum invested a great the St. Louis World’s Fair yet emphasised that ‘it is an excellent rep-
deal of money in achieving this. resentation of Munthe’s decorative art, which in its best moments

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 70  The Archers. 1904. Tapestry. 75 × 166 cm. Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim.

71  The banquet hall, Tungen Farm, Trondheim. From left: the tapestries The Golden Birds, The Wise Bird and The
Suitors. On the floor a carpet with the Fish motif on the border.

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 116  The studio, Leveld. 1902. Watercolour. 36.2 × 44.3 cm. Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo.
and Munthe had something to teach everyone through his own
home.25 Leveld, according to Aubert, was built with inspiration from
the old Norwegian farmhouses: ‘In this respect Gerhard Munthe’s
home, in its basic aspects, is Norwegian folk art yet rendered more
noble through a contemporary artist’s exquisite taste.’ Especially
the dining room and the entrance hall could, he thought, be the
sort of rooms most people could achieve. They ‘are in and of them-
selves steady and simple and not very luxurious, so almost all of us
can achieve something similar. You only need to have Gerhard
Munthe’s brilliant aesthetic sensibility and thoroughly cultured
taste’.26
Munthe, for his part, and in contrast to Carl Larsson and his
house Lilla Hyttnäs, did not think Leveld should be treated as a
model for others to emulate. In his article from 1913, reproduced in
Minder og Meninger, he explained his objective:
It may seem immodest to write a text with pictures from my own simple
home, but this cannot be any model to follow – nor can pictures from any
particular home be. But it is not about this home that I want to write. I
only want to mention a few things concerning the interior decoration of
homes in general – as the ideas come to me.
144
Munthe_layout_EN_FINAL_23042018.indd 144
Nor was Munthe’s Leveld ever treated as exemplary for domestic
interior design in his lifetime. Munthe’s wall colours were unusual
and radical at the time, and they did not accord with middle- or
working-class taste. But of the few who were interested in Munthe’s
colour choices, it is worth mentioning the authors Hulda and Arne
Garborg. Hulda apparently asked Munthe about his use of colours,
for in a letter to her in the autumn of 1903, he answered, surpris-
ingly, that he was ignorant on the matter and had entrusted it to
the house painter.27 But he did consider colour samples on the wall
and most certainly made choices based on these. Interestingly
enough the Garborgs painted their new home, Labråten in Asker,
in the same strong colours as Munthe had used in Leveld.
The interior of Munthe’s home was truly different from the in-
teriors of other artists’ homes at the time – for instance, that of
Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Leveld bears,
however, a great similarity with Carl Larsson’s home in Sundborn.
They are both characterised by radiant colours in the rooms and
simple furnishings with a combination of old period and peasant
furniture. Unfortunately Leveld burnt down in 1982. There had been
a plan to move the house and what was left of its interior furnish-
ings to Norsk Folkemuseum, but nothing came of it.28
23.04.18 15:21
 117  The Play of Fire. C.1900. Watercolour. 15.5 × 60 cm. KODE, Bergen Kunstmuseum.

118  The studio, Leveld. Horses of the Sea on the wall.

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119  Polar Bear. Sketch for stained-glass window.
The Fairy-Tale Room.
THE FAIRY-TALE ROOM,
HOLMENKOLLEN TOURIST HOTEL,
KRISTIANIA
In 1896 Gerhard Munthe was commissioned to decorate a room in
the new Holmenkollen Tourist Hotel. This would be his first room
decoration project, and there were two men he had to thank for the
commission: Andreas Aubert and the businessman and art patron
Axel Heiberg. Aubert, in his review of Munthe’s works in the Black
and White Exhibition in 1893, had already encouraged prospective
patrons to give Munthe a larger decorative project:
If we gave Gerhard Munthe the opportunity to choose an architect – for
example, Holm Munthe – so the two, being of one mind, could build a
Norwegian wooden building at Frognersæteren or at Bygdø [sic], which in
all its inventory is imbued by one unified thought, Norwegian peasant
style in its basic aspects, but also artistically ennobled through coherent
taste.29
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Munthe_layout_EN_FINAL_23042018.indd 146
Heiberg must have heard or read Aubert’s appeal. He recommend-
ed Munthe to decorate part of the interior of the new hotel. This
was the origin of the Fairy-Tale Room – probably Norway’s first
Gesamt­kunstwerk – since Munthe designed the wall decorations,
the windows, the doors and all the furniture (Fig. 120).
In February of 1897 Munthe could inform Aubert that the work
was progressing at full speed. All the woodcarving and furniture
were made by the gifted woodcarver John Borgersen (1863–1930)
and his assistants. Borgersen had been born into a family with rich
woodcarving traditions in Sauherad in Telemark.30 His father, Bor-
gar Borgarson, who was considered one of Norway’s foremost
woodcarvers, had won recognition at several large international
exhibitions. John Borgersen trained in his father’s workshop in Sau-
herad and later on at the craft school Porsgrunn Husflids- og Ar-
beidsskole, where his father was headmaster. He moved to Kris-
tiania as a young man and set up a woodcarving workshop, earning
his living by producing furniture and room decoration. Borgersen
established his career and enjoyed success at international exhibi-
tions, such as the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900 and at the World’s
Fair in Liège in Belgium in 1905. His works were purchased by such
leading decorative arts museums as the Victoria and Albert Mu­
seum in London and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. In 1905
he started the company Norsk Kunst-Industri, the aim being ‘to
establish premises for exhibitions and sales […] and where orders
can be received for mainly Norwegian industry [craft] objects’.31 But
it was primarily through assisting architects and artists that Bor­
gersen gained an important position in Norwegian art history. His
own creations were clearly influenced by the contemporary Dragon
style and the international Art Nouveau style.
Borgersen would make his most important contribution as
Munthe’s regular collaborative partner for room decorations. He
already had experience in the field when he started working with
Munthe. In 1890–91 Borgersen made furniture and interior dec­
oration for Emperor Wilhelm II’s hunting lodge in Rominten in old
East Prussia. The lodge was designed in the Dragon style by Ger-
hard Munthe’s brother-in-law, the architect Holm Munthe, and per-
haps it was the latter who recommended Borgersen when Munthe
was commissioned to decorate a room at the newly built Holmen-
kollen Tourist Hotel. This room was only around 40 square metres,
so the effect of the massive decorations on walls, ceiling and doors
must have been overwhelming. The walls were covered with carved
dados and painted reliefs with scenes that were variations on
23.04.18 15:22
 PRIVATE AND PUBLIC ROOM DECORATION

120  The Fairy-Tale Room, Holmenkollen Tourist Hotel. 1896–98 (burnt 1914). Entrance wall.

121  The Door into the Mountain. Woodcarving, the Fairy-Tale Room, Holmenkollen Tourist Hotel.

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 PRIVATE AND PUBLIC ROOM DECORATION

148  Griffins. 1903. Watercolour. 49 × 123 cm. Sketch for wall frieze in the former Kunstindustrimuseet, Oslo. Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo.

not the objects, attracted most of the attention. This must have
signalled defeat for Dedekam and all who wanted a more modern
exhibition display.93
Munthe mounted the decorative elements in the three museum
rooms in the autumn of 1903.94 They were a strange mix of Peasant
Baroque and medieval-inspired abstract ornaments. The painted
frieze on the wall in the large inner room showed a hippogriff
against a background of circular forms (Fig. 148). This, along with the
decorated half-columns, created a powerful impression in the large
room hung with old Norwegian tapestries. The friezes on the walls
in the two smaller rooms consisted of stylised plant motifs inspired
by rosemaling (Fig. 151). Over the doorways there were carved orna-
ments with shields, one of which showed the national coat of arms
with the Norwegian lion (Fig. 150).95 Another had three Viking heads
with helmets (Fig. 149). The doorframes were decorated with stylised
plant motifs and abstract circular patterns inspired by Norwegian
folk art, separated by three horizontal gilded strips. All the rooms
149  Three Vikings. 1903. Watercolour. 45 × 56 cm. Sketch for lintel decoration,
Kunstindustrimuseet, Oslo. Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo.

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 150  Exhibition room with Munthe’s decorations. Kunstindustrimuseet, Oslo. 1902–4.

had low dados with Regency profiles outlined in orange and black.
The same profile pattern was repeated on all the showcases, the
tops of which were decorated with carved ducks swimming or ex-
travagant palmettes and crowns of flowers made with gilded metal
and brass thread (Fig. 152). Munthe had also planned to crown the
showcases with three towers surrounded by coloured orbs, but
these were never executed.
It seems, on the whole, that Munthe’s imagination got out of
hand in this decoration project. When the museum opened to the
public in May 1904, critics’ opinions were mixed. Rolf Thommessen,
as expected, gushed with enthusiasm:

Such festive rooms have surely never before been created in Norway in
our time. With radiant colours, rich ornamentation and a playful lightness
and esprit that echoes the best drawings in ‘The Dream Ballad’, he has
conjured a fairy tale in a domestic style. There is nothing to complain
about here – we submit to the master!96
151  Peasant Pattern. 1903. Watercolour. 49 × 37 cm. Sketch for wall decoration,
Kunstindustrimuseet, Oslo. Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, Oslo.

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 DECORATIVE ARTS AND DESIGN
works in the past. In a letter to his friend Oluf Wold-Torne, he dis-
cussed the goldsmith’s participation in the World’s Fair exhibition
in Paris in 1900:
All the newspapers were recently full of admiration for something for­
Paris by the goldsmith Tostrup. And what was it? Something cramped,
unconstructive and niggling, and so terribly small and bashful. When I
think of the heavy candlesticks and shiny large apples and pears that were
hammered in silver in the past, and then look at these stunted things, I’m
horrified at […] the degeneracy in perception.15
Despite the criticism this time the artist was satisfied with Tostrup’s
work:
It was a pleasure to see the interest and proficiency of the architect­
Prydz [sic] and his assistants. But it was strange that they were so unfa-
miliar with this simple method of treating silver, given that our old crafts
in museums gives such excellent instruction. Repeatedly I had to drag
them out of Naturalism and modern thinking. But I consider it to be
Prydz’s merit that he never, during the work process, made any of the
claims that stupid people tend to make: that an artist doesn’t understand
the material. It’s unthinkable that a real artist should lack the right aes-
thetic sensibility.16
Torolf Prytz, in other contexts, was quite critical of Munthe’s fairy-
tale and saga pictures. One of his private notebooks states that he
thought Munthe’s art lacked a contemporary expression: ‘Gerh.
Munthe talks about today’s lack of decorative and ornamental art,
but M’s art focuses only on fairy tales and sagas. Let him, with his
decorative art, turn to the present. Then he will see that naïvety
and mystery will not work.’17
Perhaps Prytz’s interest in making the silver centrepiece had to
do with Munthe’s avoidance of themes from fairy tales and Old
Norse mythology. The recipient was well pleased. Grieg wrote an
enthusiastic letter of thanks to the artist: ‘And the centrepiece! It is
a fairy tale! Original and delightful from all angles. The Norwegian-­
Chinese bell-tower, strictly speaking, castigates the whole concept
of Norwegianness. There we have it: where does the national begin?
I learn something from this centrepiece: that Norwegianness has
no borders.’18
But Grieg indicates in his letter that the large centrepiece de-
mands space and the right surroundings: ‘I can already notice that
204
Munthe_layout_EN_FINAL_23042018.indd 204
it gets very upset when it doesn’t get what it wants. But we will
naturally try to accommodate it.’
Norsk Tidsskrift for Haandværk og Industri (The Norwegian Jour­
nal of Trade and Industry) published a short review of the silver cen-
trepiece, emphasising its Norwegian national character:
The composition is built on impressions and motifs from our ancient Nor-
wegian peasant art, and this is done so straightforwardly and naturally
that the old domestic quality gives the original work its basic tone and
character. Meanwhile, as a celebration gift, the composition also needs to
convey the day’s solemn mood and festive joy, and this is revealed in its
whole structure, the double row of wreathed bowls and all its crowning,
the tower with the running deer on the spire and the golden bell that rings
for the celebration to begin and carries its message across the land. […]
Thanks to the outstanding execution, there is liveliness, lustre and festiv-
ity in this unusual Norwegian work of art.19
Some of Munthe’s Snorre vignettes were used as models for a small
series of brooches produced by Tostrup in 1905. The vignettes in
question are The Death of King Egil, Olav Tretelgja and Wolf (Figs. 182,
183). These brooches were not sold widely, and only a few examples
of them are known. They were given as a gift to the Museum of
Decorative Arts in Copenhagen in 1907.20 Another piece of jewellery,
which suggests a thorn twig, was more popular and exists in sev-
eral copies (Figs. 184, 185).21 It was produced by David-Andersen, the
goldsmith firm which Munthe preferred to collaborate with. The
brooch was made in several versions: one is oxidised openwork and
set with four white pearls; another is hammered and gilded and set
with four blue inlaid stones.
In 1913 Munthe received a request from Harriet Backer, who,
along with other artist friends, wanted to give a silver gift to Eilif
and Magda Peterssen to commemorate their silver wedding anni-
versary that same year. Their idea was to have Munthe design a
silver bowl and to have it made by David-Andersen.22 Backer and
Sofie Werenskiold started collecting money for the bowl. There is
unfortunately no trace of it today, but a drawing in Nasjonalmuseet
for kunst, arkitektur og design in Oslo with the inscription ‘From
friends for Eilif and Magda’s silver wedding’ shows an object that
looks more like a classic bonbonnière (Fig. 186). It is decorated with
simple ornaments, and the curving feet are pulled close to the body.
The edge of the lid is decorated with pine cones and branches, and
the top is crowned with a crowing rooster.
23.04.18 15:25
 181  Silver centrepiece. Gift to the composer Edvard Grieg on his sixtieth birthday. 1903. H. 61 cm. Troldhaugen, Bergen.

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 221  The northern wall, Håkonshallen, with The Coronation of King Magnus on the left and The Coronation of King Håkon on the right.

246

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 HÅKONSHALLEN, BERGEN

of Håkon’s son, Magnus, in 1261 (Fig. 220). Both kings wear richly tive vegetal and floral forms. Uppermost were three quatrefoil win-
ornamented garments and sit under a shared baldachin decorated dows with an intricate ornamental pattern.
with Bergen’s coat of arms and the coat of arms of Norway (the lion Munthe was criticised for having chosen far too weak colours
rampant). The kings are surrounded by city representatives bearing for the stained-glass windows: they seemed pale and lacklustre in
gifts. A soldier carrying a standard guards the sumptuously dec­ the great hall. This was actually a deliberate choice, since he did
orated gate. In the background we see the Church of St. Mary and not want the windows to interfere with the rest of the decoration.
the wharf. To Emil Hannover, who had pointed out the weakness, he wrote:
‘The subjects could not have been better chosen for the kings’ ‘You should know how much I struggled to find glass for the windows
wall in Håkonshallen; they are the two most stunning memorials to
solemn occasions in the ancient story of Bergen and the king’s cas-
tle. The large pictorial planes are filled with solemnity, celebration
and grandeur in a genuine medieval spirit’, writes Haakon Shetelig
in 1913 in an article on Håkonshallen’s decoration for the journal
Kunst og Kultur. He continues:

The composition, in all its richness and abundance, has a stringency that
matches the solemn subject, and in every aspect we encounter a certain-
ty in the grouping that testifies to a rare mastery over the decorative ef-
fect. The figures’ proportions are perfectly calculated in relation to the
room and the pictorial field, and likewise the rhythmic increase in the
composition as our gaze moves towards the picture’s centre. The colour
palette conforms completely to the mural character, with clear and bright
colours that function organically together with the wall’s own material.

Emil Hannover, who saw Håkonshallen in the winter of 1912, was,

like Shetelig, appreciative of Munthe’s paintings on the front wall:
‘On the completed end wall, there are paintings I couldn’t wish to
be any different. These pictures are not just magnificent; they also
meet all the challenges of artistic tact, which the room demands.
The figures have the right size, the composition the right compact-
ness, the colours the right harmony’ (Fig. 221).47
Munthe wanted the decoration project to run at full steam from
day one, and he wanted to involve as many craftspersons as pos­
sible. Most important was to start work on the end windows. He
approved a test piece from Didr. Andersen & Son in the autumn of
1910, and work on the north wall’s stained-glass windows could
begin. Munthe chose to present Magnus Barfot and his son Sigurd
Jorsalfar, two of Norway’s foremost Viking kings (Fig. 222). Sigurd
was represented with a raised sword and an orb in his left hand. 222  King Sigurd and King Magnus. Sketch 223  St. Olav. Sketch for
for stained-glass window, Håkonshallen. stained-glass window,
Magnus Barfot held a spear in his right hand and a shield embla-
1910. Watercolour. 84 × 14 cm. KODE, Ber- Håkonshallen. 1910. Water-
zoned with a lion. Both kings were dressed in colourfully decorated gen Kunstmuseum. colour. 77 × 14 cm. KODE,
capes. On each side of the kings was a window with purely decora- Bergen Kunstmuseum.

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 the ideas underlying the decorations and the work thus far com-
pleted. The president of the parliament, Jørgen Løvland, thanked
Munthe for the lecture, saying it was fortunate the Norwegian people
had found a man who could create such a work.57 The newspaper
Tidens Tegn could now confirm that ‘from being a boring room,
devoid of poetry, Håkonshallen now becomes an attraction that will
forevermore testify to Munthe’s unique contribution to Norwegian
decorative art. And Bergen will gain a banquet hall the likes of
which no other city in the country has.’58 Bergens Tidende was also
satisfied with the result thus far: ‘The hall presents itself pleasingly
decorated. […] What has been done comes across beautifully; the
balcony in particular is a masterpiece in architecture, colour and
choice of motifs.’59
In the spring of 1913, yet another tender was received from
Borgersen for the portals and benches along the east wall. It was
immediately approved by the organising committee. Borgersen
could therefore begin working on the portals that would surround
the new doors on the east wall. Again Munthe asked Torbjørn
Alvsåker to make a plaster model based on his new drawings for
226  Sketch for the musicians’ gallery, Håkonshallen. Watercolour. 49.4 × 111.5 cm. KODE, Bergen Kunstmuseum.
250
Munthe_layout_EN_FINAL_23042018.indd 250
the portal entablatures.60 He had drawn new entablatures shaped
like battlements with square towers. The most northerly portal now
had two columns with the same shell pattern as the columns on the
musicians’ gallery; its lintel showed part of Bergen’s old coat of
arms, and above this was a loggia with a crawling mythical animal.
At the very top was a fortified castle with three towers, embrasures,
gates and trees. The southern-most portal featured a similar forti-
fied castle as its entablature but with round towers and embrasure.
The lintel underneath showed a series of stylised Viking heads. Both
entryways had curtains with swimming mermaids similar to those
under the musicians’ gallery (Fig. 228). The portals were completed
in the spring of 1914 (Fig. 229).
Munthe’s inspiration for the portals could have come from sev-
eral sources. One of his sketchbooks shows a drawing of the portals
in Toledo’s cathedral. In his lecture to the politicians in Håkonshal-
len in 1913, he mentioned Cardiff Castle in Wales as an example of
a Gothic hall decorated ‘in Empire’ style. Munthe claimed that this
style had not been replaced by any new style and that ‘there came,
in the last century, a time in architecture lacking in both style and
23.04.18 15:27
 HÅKONSHALLEN, BERGEN

227  The musicians’ gallery, Håkonshallen.

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