Norway. (or Greenland Sea ; norv. Norskehavet). Sea area (approx.1.550.000 km ²) between the Norway to the East, the Bear Island and Svalbard to the NE, the Faroe Islands and the Shetlands to the South, Ireland to the SW, Greenland to the West. the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. The warm and salty water of the Atlantic (Gulf Stream, at 4-8 ° C) penetrates between the Faroes and the Shetlands and laps the Norwegian coasts in a northerly direction. From the Arctic Ocean, a cold water current (normally below 0 ° C) carrying numerous icebergs follows the Greenlandic coast and penetrates the Atlantic Ocean between Greenland and Iceland (Denmark Channel).Among the artists of the 17th century. the sculptor A. Smith and the portraitist E. Fiigenschoug emerge. With the 18th century. a period of economic prosperity followed which was reflected in the architectural production (Kongsberg church, 1740-61, by JA Stuckenbrok), which also proposed Rococo forms in important wooden constructions (Stiftgarden in Trondheim; Damsgaard in Bergen). In traditional wooden houses there is a tendency to hide the panel frame, which offers new decorative possibilities (notable examples in Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim). In the field of painting, M. Blumenthal, HCF Hosenfeller, P. Aadnäas distinguished themselves.

According to indexdotcom, in the first half of the 19th century. the neoclassical style dominated: the most notable exponents were the architects HDF Linstow (Royal Palace in Oslo) and CH Grosch (University of Oslo). It was Grosch himself who began in the last phase of his activity the romantic movement which had the highest representatives in the Germans HE Schirmer and A. de Châteauneuf (Holy Trinity in Oslo). Other 19th century Norwegian artists: sculptor B. Bergslien (equestrian statue of Charles XIV); the portrait painters J. Munch and M. Stoltenberg; and above all the landscape architect JC Dahl. Dahl’s pupils were T. Fearnley and H. Gude, who introduced in Norway the artistic principles of the Düsseldorf school, also followed by other landscape painters such as HA Cappelen, F. Eckersberg, L. Munthe and L. Hertervig, of a very personal temperament. F. Collet, the first Norwegian painter who worked en plein-air, and CA Nielsen gave a more naturalistic imprint to their paintings. Instead they portrayed subjects drawn from the life of the people A. Tidemand and his followers C. Sundt-Hansen and O. Isachsen.

From 1875-80 outdoor painting and impressionism became the hallmark of art in Norway: specimens, among others, H. Heyerdahl, ET Werenskiold, C. Krohg, F. Thaulow, H. Backer. In the field of illustration, the work of T. Kittelsen and O. Gulbranson, a regular collaborator of the humorous-satirical newspaper Simplicissimus, is preeminent ; many, at the turn of the century, sought decorative and rhythmic effects, referring to tradition, such as G. Munthe, while symbolist tendencies also began to prevail. The figure of E. Munch stands out, but other significant artists are M. Egedius, the landscape painter T. Erichsen, AC Svartstad. In addition to L. Karsten, who was very much affected by Munch, we remember the students in Paris (1908-10) of H. Matisse, Norway Sørensen, A. Revold, LP Krohg, who with A. Rolfsen dedicated themselves, around 1920, mainly to the fresco decoration. Having taken refuge in Norway from 1933, R. Nesch he had considerable influence with his material experimentalism. Notable exponents in the field of sculpture were S. Sinding, influenced by French naturalism, G. Vigeland, a powerful personality tending towards expressionism; among those of the following generations, GT Janson, S. Fredriksen, O. Bast, A. Gunnerud and A. Haukland, exponent of the non-figurative current. Modernism in the forms of abstract expressionism and constructivism has significant representatives in the painters J. Weidemann, GS Gundersen, G. Groth who since the end of the 1980s has also expressed himself with sculptural works. Surrealism, never too present in Norway, imposed itself through the work of K. Rose in the 1970s and, in those same years, strong political connotations informed P. Kleiva’s research.

While remaining faithful to the constant relationship with nature and tradition, Norway has increasingly come out of its isolation, entering the most advanced research in the international field (installations by PI Biørlo; S. Tolaas; with videos by M. Heske). Among the main representatives of Norwegian figurative painting: K. Rose; O. Nerdrum, close to the great European tradition; B. Carlsen; OC Jenssen, with apparently abstract works animated by molecular and biomorphic structures. As in painting, the reference to nature is present in the sculpture, together with the attention to the quality of the materials: B. Breivik, PI Bjørlo, P. Barclay; in the photographs of P. Maning; in the embroideries of HH Rasmussen; in the field of installation, graphics, photography, video: B. Bjarre; B. Melgaard; M. Heske; AK Dolven; K. Åsdam; A. Tomren; K. Wager; J. Kvie; V. Sjøvoll.