The Stenersen Collection

Stenersen’s donation includes a series of major names within modern art from the 20th century.

Among the highlights are works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Helene Schjerfbeck, Asger Jorn, Corneille, Victor Vasarely, Käthe Kollwitz and Sonia Delaunay.

One of the conditions for Stenersen’s donation was that the city provided a suitable building for the collection. The new building in Rasmus Meyers allé was designed by architect Sverre Lied and completed in 1978.

Bergen municipality provided the land for free, while the purchase of the collection and the financing for the building were made possible through efforts from individual citizens, the Arts Council of Norway, and donations from the private business community in Bergen. The art collection was established as a separate foundation, which owns both the artworks and the building.

Until 2020 we had a presentation of the Stenersen collection at Lysverket before the building was closed due to rehabilitation. Pieces from the Stenersen collection is now shown regularly in Kode's exhibitions.

One of the conditions for Stenersen’s donation was that the city provided a suitable building for the collection. The new building in Rasmus Meyers allé was designed by architect Sverre Lied and completed in 1978.

Bergen municipality provided the land for free, while the purchase of the collection and the financing for the building were made possible through efforts from individual citizens, the Arts Council of Norway, and donations from the private business community in Bergen.

The art collection was established as a separate foundation, which owns both the artworks and the building.

Stenersen’s large donations

Rolf Stenersen bought his first work from Edvard Munch already in his early twenties. His interest in Munch’s pictures became the foundation for Stenersen’s collection from the first half of the 20th century, and the two kept in regular contact until the artist’s death in 1944.

In 1936, Stenersen donated his first art collection to Oslo municipality, which ncluded pictures by Edvard Munch and young Norwegian artists.

In 1971, he donated his new collection, now of modern European art, to Bergen city.

Together, Stenersen’s two donations to the public is the largest art donation in Norwegian history second only to the collection Edvard Munch donated to Oslo Municipality.

What did he collect?

The main part of the Kode collection was assembled in the post-war years when Stenersen collected many of the major names within European modernism.

During the 1950s, Stenersen bought many works by Pablo Picasso. From now on, he regarded Picasso as one of the main pillars of the collection, “a textbook I haven’t finished yet”. He purchased both older and brand-new works, like "Sylvette" (1953) and "Dead Cock with Jar" (undated).

The popular artist also appealed to the businessman Stenersen. Not least the graphic works, which he could by in larger quantities, were easy to exchange for works from other collectors.

From around 1957, Paul Klee became his most important focus area after Munch. In a short time, he assembled the largest collection of the Swiss-German artist in the Nordic region.

Klee was “the ladder and bridge” to a world he did not know within himself. The desire for the new and unknown was a fundamental driving force in Stenersen’s work as a collector.

Character and a need to share

Stenersen was an impulsive and untraditional art collector, and his collection bears evidence of personality and temper. Himself, he described the collection as a kind of self-portrait:

The collection does however also reflect the fluctuations in the art market and the constant renegotiations of who and what are attributed art-historical significance. Not until late in his collecting career did, he become concerned with the collection as a historic document.

The many collection exhibitions he organized himself also tell of a strong need to share and expose people to art and make the collections accessible to the public.

Through Stenersen’s donations and extensive activity to show his collection, the Norwegian public was introduced to international artistic currents and new expressions. In the absence of a specialized museum for modern art in Norway at the time, his work became of invaluable importance.