Arne Ekeland (14 August 1908 – 28 February 1994) was a Norwegian painter. He was born in

Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information E ...

. Among his works are ''Ser vi står på trappene'' from 1939, ''De siste skudd'' from 1940, and ''Kampen'' from 1943, all located at the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. He is also represented at the

Gothenburg Museum of Art Gothenburg Museum of Art ( sv, Göteborgs konstmuseum) is located at Götaplatsen in Gothenburg, Sweden. It claims to be the third largest art museum in Sweden by size of its collection. Collections The museum holds the world's finest collect ...

. His painting ''Frihetens søstre'' is located at

Stortinget The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years base ...

. He was awarded the Prince Eugen Medal in 1978, and was decorated Knight, First Class of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav ( no, Den Kongelige Norske Sankt Olavs Orden; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II ...

in 1980.

Theft of art collection

During the period of 14–20.November 1991 thieves broke into Ekelands studio at Eidsvoll and stole 29 of his paintings. Having failed in its investigation to find the paintings, the police entered a shady deal with feared criminal Bjørn Arild Skjørsæther, hoping he would be able to find the paintings using methods the police were not permitted to. Skjørsæther, known as a member of the criminal gang Tveita-gjengen in Oslo, was in February 1992 fetched from serving prison-time in

Oslo Prison Oslo Prison ( no, Oslo fengsel) is the district prison of Oslo, Norway. It is the largest prison in Norway, with a capacity of around 350 detainees. The prison was called ' until 2001. The prison has several departments. Department A is the former ...

, and offered a bounty of 300 000 kroner and false promises of better jail conditions if he could find and retrieve the stolen paintings. When Oslo Prison after 13 days discovered they had been fooled by the police, the mission was called off with no results to show for. The mission was passed on to another central figure in the criminal underworld of Oslo, Jan Kvalen, who in 1993 succeeded in retrieving all of the stolen paintings.VG, 12.06.1993: «Stjålne malerier til rette»

References

1908 births 1994 deaths People from Eidsvoll 20th-century Norwegian painters Norwegian male painters Recipients of the Prince Eugen Medal 20th-century Norwegian male artists {{norway-painter-stub