Martin Tebus Collection

Asked to present work in dialogue with our collection, Tebus has made a thorough inventory, and selected and curated more than 500 works under 18 themes. Working in Stockholm, Tebus made the selection with the help of mobile photos from his visits to the museum. Frustrated with the quality of these reproductions, he began hand colouring black and white cut outs from the museum catalogues from 1945, 1987 and 1993. These 273 hand coloured images, which formed the basis of his selection and categories, are shown as an introduction, or table of contents, in the room titled Collection.

This exhibition is the most extensive presentation of Trondheim kunstmuseum's collection in its 150-year history. It also presents an unconventional view, inviting us to look at the collection as a whole. The collection at play, if you will. Less known works, sketches and objects are shown along side famous counterparts by Francisco Goya, Hokusai, Edvard Munch, Hannah Ryggen and many others. Through these meetings and the themes in the exhibition, Tebus evokes the collection’s "personality".

Some themes reflect the historical and geographic environment that shaped the collection: Fishing Stories, For the Pilgrims and several landscape categories for example. Others, such as Food in Context and Interiors and How to Use them seem to look past the motifs and genres of the art works. By directing our attention to seemingly arbitrary elements they present unexpected similarities and connections. Taken together Tebus's categories and juxtapositions show the diversity, high and low, not only of the collection but of the artistic impulse as such.