Rasmus Meyer (4 June 1858 – 14 January 1916) was a Norwegian industrialist, mill owner and art collector. He is most commonly associated with the Rasmus Meyer art collection (''Rasmus Meyers samlinger'') in Bergen.

Biography

Meyer was born in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

, Norway to merchant Gerdt Henrich Meyer (1817-1897) and Kaia Wilhelmine Wold (1831-1864). He graduated from

Tanks Upper Secondary School Tank Upper Secondary School ( no, Tanks videregående skole) was an upper secondary school in the centre of Bergen, Norway. The school opened in 1850 as Tank School (''Den Tankske Skole''), funded by an endowment established by merchant Hans T ...

in Bergen in 1874. He studied modern mill operations in Germany and trained at his father's mill, Vaksdal mølle in

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipal ...

. Together with his father, he built a mill at Vaksdal in 1890. After the death of his father in 1897, Meyer took over the management of Vaksdal mølle. After a fire, he had a new mill built in 1899 which was designed by architect Adolph Fischer (1844-1925). By the early 1900s, he was running the largest milling operation in Norway. In 1912 the firm was transformed into a corporation with Meyer as principal shareholder.

Personal life

Meyer was married to Charlotte Amalie Henriette Koller (1868-1953), the daughter of Karl Theodor Fredrik Koller (1827-1897) and Henriette Conradine von der Recke (1829-1909). He was decorated Knight 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 1911.

Rasmus Meyers Samlinger

Today Rasmus Meyer is best known for his art collection (''Rasmus Meyers Samlinger''). In 1875, he had undertaken an educational journey through

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

where he studied art. He began collecting art and in 1905 he acquired the private collection of shipyard owner and art collector Ananias Dekke (1832–1892). After his own death in 1916, his substantial art collection was donated to the municipality of Bergen by his heirs. The collection is now housed in a building at Lille Lungegårdsvann. The building was designed by architect

Ole Landmark Ole Landmark (June 15, 1885 – February 7, 1970) was a Norwegian architect. He maintained an architectural firm in Bergen, Norway for nearly 50 years. Biography Ole Døsen Landmark was born in Bergen, Norway. He was the son of Johan Petersberg ...

and erected in 1924. It now also houses the Stenersen Bergen Collection and Bergen Picture Gallery. Rasmus Meyers Samlinger is associated with KODE which operates several other museum including the Edvard Grieg Museum at Troldhaugen, Harald Sæverud Museum Siljustøl, Ole Bull Museum Lysøen as well the Bergen Art Museum and

West Norway Museum of Decorative Art The West Norway Museum of Decorative Art ( no, Permanenten Vestlandske kunstindustrimuseum), also referred to as KODE 1, is located in Bergen, Norway. It was established in 1887 at the initiative of Johan Bøgh. In 1896 the museum moved into a pe ...

(''Permanenten'').

References

External links

KODE website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Rasmus 1858 births 1916 deaths Businesspeople from Bergen Norwegian industrialists Norwegian art collectors Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal 19th-century Norwegian businesspeople