Astrup Fearnley Museet

A private vision

The Astrup Fearnley Museet opened in 1993 around the collection of the Astrup and Fearnley shipping and finance families. From the start its ambition was international rather than national, and it has built one of Scandinavia's most significant holdings of contemporary art, with strong concentrations of American and, more recently, global work.

Renzo Piano's sail

In 2012 the museum moved into a new home designed by Renzo Piano at the seaward end of Tjuvholmen. A single curved glass roof — the 'sail' — spans two timber-clad pavilions divided by a canal, so that the museum feels half-building, half-harbour. A small sculpture park and a city beach extend the experience to the water's edge.

The collection

The galleries are known for headline works by Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Anselm Kiefer and Cindy Sherman, shown in changing displays alongside major temporary exhibitions. It remains a private foundation, which gives its programme a sharper, more personal edge than a state museum.

What to see

1. Jeff Koons' Michael Jackson and Bubbles
2. Major works by Hirst, Kiefer and Sherman
3. The canal-divided Piano pavilions
4. The waterfront sculpture park and beach

Half museum, half harbour, under a single glass sail.