Viking Orion Art Collection

THE RESTAURANT ENTRANCE

THE RESTAURANT ENTRANCE | DECK 2 GERHARD MUNTHE 1849–1929 X NORWAY X OIL ON CANVAS Gerhard Munthe was a Norwegian painter, illustrator and decorative artist who was a leading figure in the Norwegian aesthetic movement. He also played an important role in the resurgence of Norwegian design in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Munthe was trained as a painter in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway, as well as in Düsseldorf and Munich, Germany. His early work was executed in a fairly conventional naturalistic style. From the mid-1880s, however, more abstract and decorative elements began to enter his work. This change was inspired by Munthe’s growing admiration for Japanese art, which also awakened an interest in indigenous Norwegian literature and forms. Borrowing motifs from traditional Norwegian legends, medieval tapestries and wood carvings, Munthe began promoting the development of a native form of aestheticism. At a time when Norway’s union with Sweden was entering its final phase—it was dissolved in 1905—and nationalism was running high, this movement evoked strong responses and was greeted with considerable enthusiasm. Munthe is mostly remembered for his efforts to Norwegianize interior design and for his watercolors and rugs depicting medieval stories and adventures. Munthe noticed Norwegian homes were mostly furnished with imported furniture, so over time, he drew decorations and carpets for a variety of rooms and buildings, including Villa Leveld, his own home just outside Oslo in Lysaker. Here, he started making furniture and carpets based on the colors, patterns and atmosphere of Norway: a light and greenery-yallery (green and yellow) color scheme, with heavily painted walls and furniture. In connection with his room decorations, especially those at Villa Leveld, Munthe developed a style of painting that represents a close reproduction of reality within a home, showing the picturesque possibilities of simple, homely, fresh colors. Munthe painted several versions of the rooms in the villa, but the recurrent themes are the sunny, yellow front room with green furniture and the bright-blue living room with red chairs lined along the wall. THE BLUE LIVING ROOM IN MUNTHE’S HOME, LEVELD | EARLY 1900 38