KODE Art Museums

KODE is the umbrella name for Bergen's main art museums, and for a visitor the heart of it is the cluster of buildings on and around Rasmus Meyers allé beside the lake in the centre of the city, close to Grieghallen and the city park. The collections range from Norwegian art of the national romantic period to modern masters, and the group also runs composer homes and other sites around Bergen. Not all of them are open in November, so it helps to know which are. For the 2026 to 2027 winter season, the KODE site lists Rasmus Meyer open from 15 September to 18 May and Stenersen open from 31 October to 18 May, both Wednesday to Friday from 11:00 to 18:00 and Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 to 16:00. Lysverket opens on 21 November on the same hours, and the building is scheduled for refurbishment, so for now it shows selected temporary exhibitions. Permanenten currently has no exhibitions.

Rasmus Meyer is the one to prioritise. It holds a major collection of Norwegian art and is best known for its significant holdings of work by Edvard Munch, set alongside painters such as J. C. Dahl and Nikolai Astrup, with the Norwegian landscape and national-romantic themes that shaped the country's image of itself. Stenersen focuses on modern art and pairs international modernists with Norwegian artists from the collection of the businessman and patron Rolf Stenersen.

Lysverket, the third large building, will show temporary exhibitions after its 21 November opening until its refurbishment begins, so the programme is worth checking on the website. Check what is currently showing before you go, because KODE rotates its exhibitions and some are tied to specific periods.

The practicalities are simple. KODE is closed on 1 January, 1 May, 17 May and on 24, 25 and 31 December. Tickets are sold on the KODE website, and it is worth checking whether a combined ticket suits the buildings you want to see. Outside the main buildings, KODE also looks after Troldhaugen, the home of Edvard Grieg, where the villa is closed for renovation until summer 2027, though the park is always open and the museum building and café open only for events and concerts.

Siljustøl, the home of composer Harald Sæverud, opens only during selected concerts, and Lysøen, the island villa, is closed for refurbishment with no museum boat service in 2026.

Most visitors give the museums a morning or an afternoon. They suit the wet days that Bergen is famous for, and they are a natural pause after a day of walking Bryggen. The buildings are a short walk from the bus and light rail routes, and they sit next to the lake and park, so on a dry day you can walk through the park to Grieghallen and the old town afterwards. Weekday afternoons are generally quieter than the weekend.