It was such a privilege to have after-hours access last night to MUNCH, the museum that opened in October 2021 to house the collection of more than 20,000 works gifted to the city of Oslo by the painter, Edvard Munch. I am grateful to the friends who organized it. Walking around near-empty galleries and having time and space to study so many magnificent artworks was an unforgettable experience.

It was also a revelation. I didn’t know how prolific Munch had been or how varied his output was. Paintings, of course, but also lithographs, photographs, film recordings, sculpture, and drawings. The visit deepened my appreciation of an artist with whom I had, up to that point, associated such a narrow range of images and moods (The Scream, of course, being uppermost in my mind). I saw paintings familiar to me, and many others for the first time. My visit, in other words, did all the things I hope for whenever I go to a museum – inform, inspire, educate, move, and enthrall.

Norwegians are very proud of Munch and have expressed that pride in the best possible ways; by building a beautiful and functional home for his art, and by thinking all the time of new ways to show that art to those who know and love it and those who will in the future.