The Kittelsen Museum
Featuring majestic views of Modum, Tyrifjord Lake and Ringerike, the Kittelsen Museum is located on Skuterud Ridge (350 masl) at the Cobalt Mines. Here you can experience one of Norway’s largest collections of original works by the famous fairytale artist Theodor Kittelsen (1857–1914).
Theodor Kittelsen (1857–1914) is an artist most people have some relationship with. Elves and trolls, drawings and wood carvings, paintings and spinning tops. Kittelsen was a multi-artist, and if you want to see the proof of just that, you should come here to the Kittelsen Museum.
Do you like fairy tales, goblins and trolls? Or do you prefer being frightened by darker characters, like the shape-shifting water spirit Nøkken or Pesta, the plague hag? Either way, the Kittelsen Museum is not to be missed! There is also a small shop here with a large selection of books about Kittelsen - and Blaafarveværket's specially produced Kittelsen souvenirs.
Every year we also have a separate exhibition in the Kittelsen gallery in the basement. In 2024, Ingvild Eiring will show his dioramas here. Click here and read more about that exhibition.
The new Kittelsen Museum
Our permanent Kittelsen collection is constantly growing so, in 2021, the Kittelsen Museum added a new entrance that provides more exhibition space for our approx. 100 Kittelsen works. Acquired over more than three decades, the collection encompasses some of his most famous pictures, including Nøkken (the Neck) as a white horse from 1909 and Bergtrold from 1905.
The expanded entrance area also houses ticket sales, plus a small gift shop with books about Kittelsen and Kittelsen souvenirs specially produced for the museum. There’s even a meditation room with its own spectacular view!
The story
The story about the Kittelsen Museum at the Cobalt Mines began in 1987, when Kittelsen’s surviving children, Nanna and Helge Theodor, knocked on the Cobalt Works’ door. Could we imagine building a permanent museum for Kittelsen’s art? In return, they offered to donate a number of their father’s personal items, including his furniture and painting supplies. Naturally, the answer was yes! This happened just as the Cobalt Works Museum was working to restore the industrial and cultural landmarks of the Cobalt Mines and open them to the public. It seems fitting that a former miners’ residence, with a majestic location on Skuterud Ridge, be transformed into a museum for an artist so inspired by the region’s nature and folktales.
On May 21, 1993, the Kittelsen Museum was officially opened by King Harald V. Since then, we have built up the collection with annual purchases of paintings and drawings, including such masterpieces as Nøkken as a white horse, 1909, New Years new, 1905, Houseman, 1913 and Bergtrold, 1905. The humorist Kittelsen appears in works such as Nisser og dverge bygger i berget,1907 and Å hutte tu! 1903. Several works owned by Sparebankstiftelsen DNB, has also been deposited with the museum and can be seen here.
