1. Per Krohg: "The Atom in Space"
Norwegian painter Per Krohg's iconic artwork covers the entire vestibule of UiO's Physics building. It is made up of murals and glass paintings. Entering the room, you are surrounded by colorful stories about the universe, humanity and the sciences.
Appropriately, the vestibule also boasts a nice replica of Jean-Bernard-Leon Focault's famous pendulum experiment. The pendulum is not part of Krohg's artwork, though.
- Date: 1938
- Location: Fysikkbygningen
2. Olav Christopher Jenssen: “Lack of Memory II”
What may appear to be a hand-sanded brick wall in Helga Engs hus, is in fact a piece in the Lack of Memory series – contemporary artist Olav Christopher Jenssen's big breakthrough. Upon closer inspection you''ll discover many fascinating details, hand-carved into a complex geometric landscape.
The level of abstraction is high, and it is up to you to create your own associations and interpretations of the work.
- Date: 1994
- Location: Helga Engs hus
3. Kjell Torriset: "836 Eyes"
Have you ever felt like you're being watched at the University Library? Kjell Torriset's 836 eyes follow the library patrons from their individual black-painted panels, mounted across three floors on the sloping west wall of Georg Sverdrups hus.
Go explore the plethora of gazes and reflect on the artist's fascination with the role of the eye in our cultural history of imagery and the experience of visual art.
- Date: 1999
- Location: University Library, Georg Sverdrups hus
4. Naum Gabo: "Constructed Head No. 2"
Russian-American Naum Gabo was a leading figure in constructivist art. In 1916 he began creating head sculptures built from plates of various sizes. Gabo’s heads are now housed in major art collections around the world, and it is quite exciting that one of them is located at the UiO campus.
The sculpture was originally placed outdoors, but could not withstand the Norwegian climate and was moved into Sophus Lie's auditorium.
- Date: 1967
- Location: Sophus Lies auditorium
5. Aase Texmon Rygh: "Torso"
In the vestibule of Niels Treschows hus stands a white figure in plastic concrete, balancing elegantly between the abstract and the figurative. ?se Texmon Rygh, a pioneer of Norwegian modernism, created several versions of Torso during her career, inspired by other artists who worked on simplifying the human body.
The sculpture was gifted to the university in 1967 by the architect behind the buildings for the Faculty of Humanities, Leif Olav Moen.
- Date: 1956
- Location: Niels Treschows hus
6. B?rd Breivik: "Equations in Stainless Steel"
What happens when one of Norway's foremost contemporary artists collaborates with academic staff at the Department of Informatics? You get four monumental steel reliefs formed using 3D techniques, which in various ways reflect important principles within the disciplines of the Informatics building.
In summary, the relief "Orion's Belt" is about diffraction, "Chamber Tone A" is about the Doppler effect, "High C" is about tone frequencies and "Fractal" is about fractal geometry.
- Date: 2011
- Location: Ole Johan Dahls hus
7. Arne Ekeland: "Before Departure"
Arne Ekeland's monumental painting was supposed to hang at the Oslo Central Station, but ended up at UiO's main campus instead. In orange, violet, blue and red, inspired by cubism, expressionism and realism, Ekeland depicts large groups of people at work and in interactions.
Ekeland was socially and politically involved, and behind the seemingly harmonious artwork lie some critical questions about the human condition in a modern industrial society.
- Date: 1984
- Location: Georg Sverdrups hus
8. Gustav Vigeland: Monument to Henrik Abel
Lastly, an artwork in the centre of Oslo. Famous sculptor Gustav Vigeland's proposal for a monument to mathematician Nils Henrik Abel wasn't in line with the university's brief, and was initially rejected. After much debate, the sculpture was nonetheless purchased and placed at the end of the Palace Park, close to the University's downtown campus.
The sculpture, sitting on an 8 metres tall granite plinth, is a highly symbolic representation of the young genius.
- Location: Abelhaugen, Palace Park
- Date: 1905–1908
More from UiO's art collection