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The mystery of the missing emigrants
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Blessum’s painting The Emigrants can be seen above the opening into the next room. Anno Norsk utvandrermuseum
After Restauration's departure from Stavanger in 1825, over 900,000 Norwegians followed in its wake. They left Norway in order to try their luck in North America, Canada or elsewhere in the world.
The 1914 emigrant exhibition
Norway's extensive emigration had major repercussions for Norwegian society. At the national jubilee exhibition in Oslo in 1914, an entire pavilion was in fact dedicated to an emigrant exhibition.
This anniversary exhibition marked the centenary of Norway's constitution, and of Norway as an independent state. Between May and October, 1.5 million people visited a number of exhibitions on everything from agriculture, shipping, machinery, electricity and mining to art, education and healthcare. And emigration at the emigrant exhibition.
Benjamin Blessum's two paintings
The emigrant pavilion was decorated by the artist Benjamin Blessum. He was born in Norway in 1877, but emigrated to America as a child together with his parents. For the pavilion, Blessum painted, among other things, two large paintings with emigrant motifs. One painting shows Restauration's departure from Stavanger, the other a group of emigrants, both women, men and children, walking through an open landscape.
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Restauration's Departure from Stavanger by Ben Blessum Anno Norsk utvandrermuseum
Once the 1914 exhibition was over, a lot of material from the emigrant exhibition was taken over by the organization Norwegians Worldwide in Oslo. This emigrant collection in fact forms the prelude to today’s Norwegian Emigrant Museum.
For many years Blessum's painting Restauration's Departure from Stavanger was displayed in the premises of Norwegians Worldwide, but was later gifted to the Norwegian Emigrant Museum, which already owned the painting The Emigrants. And thus the two sister paintings were once again reunited.
Where did it go?
In 1982, the painting The Emigrants was part of a Norwegian Emigrant Museum traveling exhibition. After having being displayed several places in Norway, the exhibition was transported to the United States to continue its tour there. Over there, all signs of this enormous (5'4" x 15'7") painting disappear. Somewhere on this tour, our painting has gone missing. Could it have been left hanging somewhere? The painting may have been taken out of its frame and rolled up for easier transportation. But in that case: where is this scroll hiding?
Please help us
We kindly ask for your help to locate our missing painting. Have you seen this painting anywhere, or know of any place the scroll might have been left behind? The Norwegian Emigrant Museum will readily accept any tips that might lead to a happy reunion between Blessum's two emigrant paintings.
CROSSINGS 200
1825–2025
200 years of migration
E-mail: crossings200@annomuseum.no