Today our Norwegian and Telemark culture class took a trip to Oslo where we visited the national gallery, parliament and folk museum. We started with a tour of the gallery, looking primarily at norwegian paintings. They of course were ridiculously good. I learned about important symbolism in the painting for that time, such as having a dead tree in the foreground to remind us of death or to consider the end. I also learned that women painted with low or v-neck blouses, bright colors (like red) and with their hair down were usually prostitutes that the painter used for models! At one point my American friend, Keziah, and I snuck off to look at some of the other art while the guide was talking. Luckily, we found some of Picasso's work, which gave an energetic contrast to the relatively bleak and realistic Norwegian art.
I think any true artist, no matter how serious, has a sense of humor. I'm not sure anyone else saw it, but in one painting of a church service I noticed one man who looked absolutely bored out of his mind! I found it absolutely hilarious! Because no matter how good of a Christian you are at some point in your life you will have been able to relate to that dude.
I think any true artist, no matter how serious, has a sense of humor. I'm not sure anyone else saw it, but in one painting of a church service I noticed one man who looked absolutely bored out of his mind! I found it absolutely hilarious! Because no matter how good of a Christian you are at some point in your life you will have been able to relate to that dude.
We also got to check out Munch's work. Sadly no pictures were aloud, but of course that didn't stop us defiant students from trying to evade the guard. This is the reason why my picture with "the scream" is so blurry. I'm still pleased with it. After we had a break time which I spent getting some shopping done. Confused about our rendezvous time at the parliament, I asked one of the guards when our group was supposed to meet and he told me that the tour had already begun. After a few phone calls a nice man came down, took me through the security process and then tried to help me find my group. I was embarrassed for being so late, but soon discovered all the worry was for nothing. Turns out it was the norwegian immersion language class, which had also traveled with us to Oslo that day. I joined their tour and it all ended up fine. Plus, I had more free time to walk around Oslo in the end! I'd been to the folk museum before with my parents a couple years ago, but it was still interesting to hear an expert tell us stuff and let us in some of the old houses. They have an outdoor museum there of super old reconstructed homes and storehouses from all over the different parts of Norway. All in all it was a good day. Perhaps the most fun part was after the bus delivered us back to the school in Bø when our French friend, Remy, gave us a ride back up to Breisås. It was almost 9pm and had begun to rain. We crammed 7 of us in his tiny 5 seater, 2 door car. Poor Keziah went in the trunk. The speed bumps weren't not kind to her, but we all couldn't help but laugh at the adorable yelps from the trunk as Remy continued to speed up the hill, not slowing down for the bumps. | |