Where can I see Old Aker Church?

Old Aker Church is displayed at the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway.

When did Munch paint this?

Munch painted Old Aker Church in 1881, the year he quit engineering to study art at the Royal School of Art and Design Edvard Munch created it as part of the Norwegian artistic tradition.

What is Old Aker Church?

Old Aker Church is Oslo's oldest remaining building, a Romanesque stone church dating to around 1100 CE Edvard Munch created it as part of the Norwegian artistic tradition.

How big is the painting?

Old Aker Church is a small work, measuring only 16 x 21 cm (approximately 6 x 8 inches), painted on board.

Where Is Old Aker Church? See It at Munch Museum

Edvard Munch completed this Old Aker Church in 1881, the year he abandoned engineering to study art at the Royal School of Art and Design. The small oil on board measures just 16 x 21 cm and depicts Oslo's oldest remaining building in a Realist style far from the Expressionism he would later develop.

The Munch Museum holds an interesting set of three drawings showing the same motif at different stages of completion, with the final version developed into this oil painting. Such step-by-step documentation is unusual. The drawings were likely produced as part of a formal art exercise during Munch's training.

Telthusbakken and Old Aker Church were subjects Munch painted repeatedly as a young man. The medieval stone church still stands today, a Romanesque structure dating to around 1100. This early green landscape shows an eighteen-year-old artist just beginning his journey. The painting hangs at the Munch Museum in Oslo.