Culture

Norwegian culture should be understood in the context of Norwegian history as well as Norwegian geography. The unique Norwegian farm culture resulted not only from scarce resources and a harsh climate, but also from Norway's ancient property laws, which sustained a unique character still visible in Norway today. This unique character resulted in a strong romantic nationalistic movement in the 18th century which is visible to this day in the Norwegian language and media.

Art

Expressionist painter Edvard Munch is the most famous Norwegian artist in a long artistic tradition that includes modernists such as Gunnar S. Gundersen and romantic-period painters such as Adolph Tidemand, Hans Gude and J.C. Dahl.

Cooking

Norway's culinary traditions show the influence of long seafaring and farming traditions with salmon (fresh and cured), herring (pickled or marinated), trout, codfish and other seafood balanced by cheeses, dairy products and excellent breads (predominantly dark/darker). Lefse is a common Norwegian potato flatbread, common around Christmas. For renowned Norwegian dishes, see lutefisk, smalahove, pinnekjøtt and fårikål.

More information on Norwegian cuisine may be found in the Food and Drink section.

Literature

The history of Norwegian literature starts with the pagan Eddaic poems and skaldic verse of the 9th and 10th centuries with poets such as Bragi Boddason and Eyvindr Skáldaspillir. The arrival of Christianity around the year 1000 brought Norway into contact with European medieval learning, hagiography and history writing. Merged with native oral tradition and Icelandic influence this was to flower into an active period of literature production in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Major works of that period include Historia Norwegie, Thidreks saga and Konungs skuggsjá.

Little Norwegian literature came out of the period of the Scandinavian Union and the subsequent Dano-Norwegian union (1387-1814), with some notable exceptions such as Petter Dass and Ludvig Holberg. During the union with Denmark, written Norwegian was replaced by Danish.

Two major events precipitated a major resurgence in Norwegian literature. In 1811, a Norwegian university was established in Christiania. Seized by the spirit of revolution following the American and French Revolutions, the Norwegians signed their first constitution in 1814. Soon, the cultural backwater that was Norway brought forth a series of strong authors recognised first in Scandinavia, and then worldwide; among them were Henrik Wergeland, Peter Asbjørnsen, Jørgen Moe and Camilla Collett.

By the late 19th century, in the Golden Age of Norwegian literature, the so-called Great Four emerged: Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Alexander Kielland, and Jonas Lie. Bjørnson's "peasant novels", such as "En glad gutt" (A Happy Boy) and "Synnøve Solbakken" are typical of the national romanticism of their day, whereas Kielland's novels and short stories are mostly realistic. Although an important contributor to early Norwegian romanticism (especially the ironic Peer Gynt), Henrik Ibsen's fame rests primarily on his pioneering realistic dramas such The Wild Duck and A Doll's House, many of which caused moral uproar because of their candid portrayals of the middle classes.

In the 20th century, three Norwegian novelists were awarded the Nobel Prize in literature: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in 1903, Knut Hamsun for the book "Markens grøde" ("Growth of the Soil") in 1920, and Sigrid Undset in 1928. In the 20th century writers like Dag Solstad, Jostein Gaarder, Jens Bjørneboe, Kjartan Fløgstad, Lars Saabye Christensen, Johan Borgen, Herbjørg Wassmo, Jan Erik Vold, Rolf Jacobsen, Olaf Bull, Jan Kjærstad, Georg Johannesen, Tarjei Vesaas, Sigurd Hoel, Arnulf Øverland and Johan Falkberget have made important contributions to Norwegian literature.

Leisure

Physical culture is also important in one of the most prosperous nations in the world. In terms of the opportunities for enjoying leisure, few countries compare with Norway. With great forests and wide mountain plateaus for winter pleasure and extensive coastal areas and rivers for summer recreation, Norway provides a natural environment which encourages outdoor sports.

Music

Along with the classical music of romantic composer Edvard Grieg and the modern music of Arne Nordheim, Norwegian black metal has become something of an export article in recent years.

National Flower

Norway has two national flowers.

At an international congress for botanists held in Amsterdam in 1935, Saxifraga cotyledon (Silver Saxifrage) was elected national flower of Norway. Later, in 1976, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation held a referendum on one of their programs which elected Calluna vulgaris, commonly known as heather, as national flower.