Kunstsilo 2026 Programme

• South Norway museum to present 600 works of Nordic modern art in major display of The Tangen Collection
• Recently acquired works from Canica Art Collection on display at Kunstsilo for the first time

The award-winning Kunstsilo, a former grain silo transformed into an innovative art museum, announces its major exhibition series for 2026. The ambitious programme will see Kunstsilo present the most comprehensive exhibition of Nordic modernism to ever be staged. Through three major exhibitions the renowned Tangen Collection of Nordic modern art and its recent acquisition of works from the Canica Art Collection will be brought together for the first time.

“Now we can finally present a comprehensive narrative of Nordic modernism and The Tangen Collection's life's work,” says art patron and founder of the collection, Nicolai Tangen.

Built over 30 years by Nicolai Tangen, CEO of the Norges Bank and founder of AKO Foundation, The Tangen Collection is the world's largest collection of Nordic Modernism. It offers a complementary archive to national Nordic collections, containing, amongst other, the largest collection of Finnish modernism outside Finland.

"Kunstsilo is the home of Nordic art, and we are proud custodians of The Tangen Collection. The Tangen Collection and the Canica Art Collection have both been built over several decades and the exhibitions opening this spring demonstrate our commitment to sharing the subject of Nordic Modernism with the broadest public,” says Kunstsilo’s Director, Maria Mediaas Jørstad.

Nordic modernism in three parts

The three exhibitions will together display around 600 works and constitute different chapters in the story of how artists in the Nordic countries, over more than half a century, explored new ways of understanding humanity and society. Beginning with ‘Pictures for a new world’ (Opening 26 March 2026), audiences will be transported to the turning of the 20^thcentury and the new movements which developed across European art centres making their way to the Nordic region in 1910. This part will present several recent key works by artists associated with the early avant-garde, such as artists Gösta Adrian-Nilsson, Franciska Clausen, Harald Giersing, Isaac Grünewald, Vilhelm Lundstrøm, Siri Derkert and Per Krohg.

The Tangen Collection will further unfold in the second exhibition ‘Rebellion and Optimism’ (Opening 30 April) tracing the artistic depictions of shifts in Nordic society. From the 1960ties and onwards we witness major upheavals in the perception of what art can be worldwide. Artists increasingly try out ideas, explore questions, and experiment with new media, materials, and processes. This results in an enormous artistic diversity that continues to be relevant today. The second exhibition features work by amongst others Anna-Eva Bergman, Eddie Figge, Albert Merz, Ernst Billgren and Bjørn Ransve.

Concluding with ‘Between Dreams and Reality’ (Opening 11 June) Kunstsilo will explore how Nordic artists expressed the unconsciousness and experiences of the human mind after World War I. The exhibition will present a comprehensive presentation of expressionist and surrealist art, amongst others the painting (Terre Brûlée(Scorched Earth), (1946) by the Dane Elsa Thoresen. She was invited by leading French Surrealist André Breton to exhibit alongside her international counterparts in major stagings of surrealist works.

Canica Art Collection

In December 2024, AKO Foundation purchased 333 works from the Canica Art Collection for 240 million NOK to be incorporated into The Tangen Collection and managed by Kunstsilo. Since then, additional 44 works have been added to the collection. This significant addition to The Tangen Collection closed gaps in the museum’s collection.

"I have dreamed about the works from the Canica Art Collection for a long time, and now the courtship has finally resulted in a happy marriage. I am delighted that these two important art collections are now being combined and made available to the public at Kunstsilo," says Nicolai Tangen.

Stein Erik Hagen, who built up the Canica Art Collection over many years, emphasises the importance of accessibility: “When I decided to sell the collection of Nordic modernism, it was important to me that it found a good home and became accessible to the general public. And that is exactly what has happened! It fits perfectly with The Tangen Collection, and together they form a solid European centre of gravity. With Kunstsilo also being named the world's most beautiful museum, it couldn't be much better!”

Autumn with Leonard Rickhard and young artistic talents

Autumn 2026 will be marked by the opening of a comprehensive retrospective of one of Norway's most influential painters after World War II, Leonard Rickhard (1945–2024). The exhibition includes several works painted with Kunstsilo in mind, bringing together both well-known series and rarely seen works with motifs drawn from Rickhard's own childhood memories of southern Norway.

On 24 September, this year's Sør Artist Prize will be awarded, presenting four young artists from Agder with new works. The prize is one of the most important platforms for young artists from the region and is a collaboration between Kunstsilo and the Sør Foundation. A national jury will award the main prize of NOK 150,000, while the public will vote for their favourite.

Last year was marked by the Prix Versailles honorary prize as the world's most beautiful museum - a recognition the museum will carry into the art year 2026. Kunstsilo will be commencing the year with Edvard Munch – Portraits (opening 5 February), a new and expanded version of the National Portrait Gallery's critically acclaimed exhibition that shows a little-known side of Munch's artistry.

Kunstsilo's exhibition programme 2026

• Edvard Munch – Portraits | 5 February – 10 May

• Ylve Thon – FRESKO! | 12 – 27 March

• Pictures For a New world. Stories from The Tangen Collection | 26 March – 4 October

• Rebellion and Optimism. Stories from The Tangen Collection | 30 April – 30 August / 28 February 2027

• Between Dreams and Reality. Stories from The Tangen Collection | 11 June – 7 February

• Immersive Experience in S-Lab – Bendik Riis, Six Pears | 11 June – 11 October

• Sør Artist Prize 2026 | 24 September – January 2027

• Leonard Rickhard | 5 November – 4 April 2027