COLLECTION

Look forward to newly acquired contemporary art, treasures from the collection that have not been on display for almost 100 years and well-known masterpieces!

Kode’s collection has been created by various benefactors, foundations and collectors. The collection is now growing at a rate of around 100 works each year.

We thus continue a 200-year tradition of collecting works by key Norwegian artists, but also international reference works.

The exhibition will include a wide range of artistic expressions and media and will run through autumn 2026. Dates will be updated.

The Chinese Collection

Kode has Norway’s largest collection of Chinese art and crafts. The collection contains several thousand objects and includes embroidered silk costumes, ink paintings and high-quality porcelain pieces.

The Chinese Collection has many stories to tell. The largest part of the collection came to Bergen between 1907 and 1935 as a donation from Johan W. Munthe. Munthe spent his entire adult life in China and aimed, through this collection, to lay the foundation for the study of Chinese art and culture in his hometown.

The collection has previously been shown several times at Permanenten. After several years’ absence, we are now unveiling a newly curated Chinese Collection.

Norway’s oldest art collection

Step into Bergen’s art world in the early 1800s, when Norway’s oldest art collection was founded here. We present European masterpieces from 1400-1840.

The world of J.C. Dahl

Johan Christian Dahl (1788–1857) was the first Norwegian artist to gain international influence, and the narrative about Dahl and his students has been an important part of Norwegian art history. This presentation starts earlier and looks at the Norwegian artists Dahl learnt from and his contemporaries.

C. Sundt’s donation

Did you know that Kode has Norway’s second largest collection of crafts and design? The collection contains more than 40,000 objects, but its core came from businessman and philanthropist Christian G. Sundt (1816–1901). In 1889, he made a generous donation of more than 500 antiques to help establish the new West Norway Museum of Decorative Art. Many of the treasures came from noble and royal collections, and continue to hold status today as masterpieces of international significance. In late autumn 2025, we will show Sundt’s donation in all its breadth to the public.

Harriet Backer’s world

This presentation highlights the environment around Harriet Backer with a special focus on her painting school. The painting school was launched in around 1892 and continued until the Academy of Art and Design was established in 1909 – after which, Backer only gave a few private lessons. Through her work as an artist, teacher and women’s rights activist, Backer became an important role model for many of her contemporaries.

Modern art: Stenersen and Neby collections

Highlights from Norwegian and international modernism and concrete art, from the two collections of Rolf Stenersen and Erling Neby, stewarded by Kode.

Contemporary works 2020-2025

Museumssamlinger blir til gjennom donasjoner, deponier og innkjøp – og Museum collections are formed through donations, deposits and acquisitions – and shaped by ongoing discourse within the art world. As one of Norway’s largest art museums, Kode has a responsibility to document the art of our time for future generations.

In autumn 2026, the third floor of Lysverket will be filled with contemporary works of visual art, crafts and design acquired over the past five years.

Liam Gillick

In autumn 2026, Kode will show three works by British artist Liam Gillick in Tårnsalen, donated to the museum in 2025.

Liam Gillick (b. 1964, UK) is an internationally recognised artist based in New York. He works with sculpture, installation, text and film. Gillick was part of the Young British Artists movement and has exhibited at Documenta, the Venice Biennale, Moma and Palais de Tokyo.