Stein Erik Hagen Lets Museum Pick Freely From His $120 Million Art Collection
April 14, 2016 | In the PressGrocery retail billionaire Stein Erik Hagen is now opening up his art collection, believed to be the largest private collection in Norway, to the public. The Norwegian National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design (Nasjonalmuseet) has been granted free access to roam Hagen’s collection, a 2000-piece compilation of Nordic and Northern European fine art from the 19th and 20th century, valued at 1 billion Norwegian Krone ($120 million).
Most of the art is owned by Canica A/S, the Hagen family investment firm, but it is Stein Erik Hagen who has spent 40 years collecting the pieces with help from art historian Steinar Gjessing, a former senior curator of the National Museum of Contemporary Art. The works collected show a large interest in surrealist, concretist and expressive tendencies within Nordic art, and include pieces by modern Scandinavian master, like Edvard Munch, Gösta Adrian-Nilsson and Asger Jorn.
The Hagen collection is not limited to Scandinavian artists. For instance, with over 200 prints by the American Robert Mapplethorpe, it is likely the most significant collection of works by the highly influential photographer.
Hagen has no particular stipulation on how the museum uses his art, but told the Norwegian press he hopes none of the pieces end up being put in the basement.
As they have the ambition to tell the full story of the history of arts in the Nordics, Nasjonalmuseet is pleased with the opportunity to fill some of the gaps their collection has today.
“(Hagen’s collection) has been constructed with a particular view to supplementing the National Museum collection within areas of Norwegian, Nordic and other European art where this collection could benefit from Canica’s strong contributions within avant-garde art”, says Audun Eckhoff, the director of Nasjonalmuseet.
“The agreement with the private Canica collection is a great opportunity to significantly improve our collection display in the new National Museum now under construction”, says Eckhoff.
Parts of Hagen’s art will be included in the permanent collection, but visitors will not have to wait that long to see a more complete catalogue of the Hagen collection, as it will specially showcased in an exhibition in the fall of 2017
FORBES estimates Stein Erik Hagen’s net worth to be $2.1 billion. He made his fortune with discount supermarket Rimi, which he founded with his father in the 1970s. He eventually sold his stake after Rimi merged with Dutch retailer Ahold. Via the family investment firm Canica A/S, the Hagens have various investments across Scandinavia, incldning consumer goods manufacturer Orkla and hardware store Jernia. In 2014 Stein Erik Hagen appointed his daughter Caroline Marie Hagen Kjos (opens in a new window) to take over the reins and transferring most of shares to her, making her a billionaire as well.
