This year-2013-Norway is celebrating the 150th birthday of its most famous artist, Edvard Munch. Munch in his earlier years relished controversy, and developed the reputation of Norway's artist-bad boy. However, by the time of his death in 1944 at age 81, he had become part of the "establishment" in that he lived on an 11-acre estate outside of Oslo, and willed his entire estate to the city of Oslo, including 1,008 paintings, 4,443 drawings, and 15,391 prints.
After the sale of a version of "The Scream," purchased by American billionaire Leon Black in 2012 at Sotheby's for the mere $119.9 million, and setting the record for the most expensive artwork ever sold at public auction, Oslo City Council decided to go ahead with the building of a new Munch Museum in the Bjorvika neighbourhood, next to the Opera House along the Oslo waterfront. Spanish architecture firm, Herreros Arquiterctos will design the new museum shaped like a leaning glass tower. For more on Munch, check out the following website here.
