Thomas Fredrik Olsen (1897–1969) was a Norwegian ship-owner. Son of Fredrik Olsen and born in

Hvitsten Hvitsten is a former town in Akershus county, Norway, located between Drøbak and Son. It is the smallest town that has ever existed in Norway: In 1951 it had 76 inhabitants, and an area of just 0.07 km2. Due its size it could not be establ ...

, he worked in the family company Fred. Olsen & Co. from 1920. He held a board position in a range of companies, including Det Norske Luftfartselskap and

Scandinavian Airlines System The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), commonly known as Scandinavian Airlines, is the Flag carrier, national airline of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It is part of SAS Group and is headquartered in Solna Municipality, Solna, Sweden. Including ...

. He is the father of shipping magnate Fred Olsen. In 1941, he acquired the

Waterbury Clock Company Timex Group USA, Inc. (formerly known as Timex Corporation) is an American global watch manufacturing company founded in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Company in Waterbury, Connecticut. In 1944, the company became insolvent but was reformed into ...

. He renamed the company Timex, a portmanteau of ''Time'' and

Kleenex Kleenex is a brand name primarily known for their line of facial tissues. Often used informally as a genericized trademark for facial tissue, ''Kleenex'' is a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark applied to products made in 78 countries. The ...

. Olsen assembled a major personal collection of over 30 paintings by Norwegian artist

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...

including one of the four versions of Munch's ''

The Scream ''The Scream'' is an art composition created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893. The Norwegian name of the piece is ('Screaming, Scream'), and the German title under which it was first exhibited is ' ('The Scream of Nature'). The agonize ...

''. During the Second World War, he chose to hide the works in a hay barn in central Norway after war had formally been declared, but before the German invasion of Norway in April 1940. ''The Scream'' remained there until the liberation in 1945. In gratitude to Britain for taking him in when he fled the Nazis, Olsen presented one of Munch’s most notable paintings, ''The Sick Child'', to the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

. The collection was the subject of a legal dispute between Olsen's sons Fred Olsen and

Petter Olsen Petter Halfdan Rudolf Fredrik Olsen (born 7 February 1948) is a Norwegian businessman, former billionaire and member of the Olsen shipping family, who own Fred. Olsen & Co. He is the younger brother of the current leader of the company, Fredrik ...

following the death of Olsen's wife Henriette. In 2012, on the occasion of a Munch exhibition at the MoMa, the family of German Jewish art collector Hugo Simon pointed out that he had owned ''The Scream'' in the 1920s and 1930s, before Simon was forced to flee Germany due to Nazi persecution.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsen, Thomas Fredrik Norwegian businesspeople in shipping 1897 births 1969 deaths SAS Group people Norwegian Air Lines people