Bergen: Kode Art … Rasmus Meyer

Woke up to pouring rain. No surprise since the forecast had been calling for that to be the case all along.

We took our time with breakfast, enjoyed relaxing with the city views providing a peaceful background to go along with our coffee and tea … taken indoors instead of on the terrace, of course.

When the rain decided to give us a longish-break, we headed out to put the day’s plan into play.

We’d start out at the art museum. Then we would go our separate ways. I would continue enjoying the art at a slower pace. Mui would head out to do something he enjoys and I don’t … wander through the shopping district. Not that he planned to buy anything. It’s just something he likes to do in big cities.

Kode is “… one of the largest art, craft, design, and music museums in the Nordic region.” The museum’s history dates back 200 years. It boasts some 50,000+ pieces in its collection … ranging from paintings, to sculptures and furniture, to installations, to works of fine craft and design, and more.

The venues that are under the Kode umbrella include three historic composers’ homes … which we did not get to today. Instead, we visited the venues along the Lille Lungegårdsvann Lake in Byparken … the city center park we can see from the apartment … a 5-10 minute walk away.

Following neighborhood streets, we arrived at Byparken and made our way around one side of the lake to the Rasmus Meyer venue … referred to by some simply as Kode 3. Purchasing our tickets — NOK 200 = $21 at today’s exchange rate — we began our day of ‘Kode Art’. The woman at the desk set up an audio guide for me that I could activate at will by touching it to buttons near several of the more important pieces.

Rasmus Meyer had a dream … for a public building where his collection of art could be “… exhibited for a larger audience.” After he passed away in 1916, his children donated the works he had collected to the city — art from the period referred to as the Norwegian “Golden Age” (1880-1905) and historical furniture.

The building looks deceptively small from the outside, yet there is quite a bit to enjoy across the two floors … starting in the Blumentahl Room where we found scenes painted on the walls and ceiling. My kind of place.

Kode has the world’s third largest collection of Edvard Munch’s paintings and works on paper … some 100 pieces. Though the collection has increased with additional purchases and gifts, the nucleus is the pieces Rasmus Meyer collected in collaboration with Munch. His intent was to follow Munch’s artistic development over the years … and the exhibition is set up that way … assuming you enter the Munch wing on the second floor first when you get to the top of the stairs.

In addition to the “Golden Age” paintings by Norwegian painters, there was a special thematic exhibition featuring the museum’s international Art Nouveau pieces from the 1900 Paris Exposition. From what I understand, these pieces are being shown together for the first time to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the arrival of the objects at the museum.

By the time I completed my wander through the exhibited art works, Mui was long gone. No worries. I had made sure to keep the key to the locker, so I collected my rain jacket and bits and pieces and headed out to the next venue.Read more