OSLO, NORWAY.-The main attractions of the Munch Museum’s summer exhibition 2008 will be the paintings Scream and Madonna. The process of restoring them will by then be completed, and they may again be presented to the public.

The stealing of Scream and Madonna during the armed robbery in the museum August 22, 2004, brought shockwaves through the international museum world. After two years of police investigation, the paintings were recovered on August 31, 2006. This joyful occasion was, however, somewhat moderated by the fact that the paintings had received rough treatment and suffered from serious damages. Placed in specially designed display cases, the damaged paintings were shown to the public for five days at the end of September 2006, viewed by 5,500 visitors. Immediately afterwards, the process of restoring the paintings started.

This process is now coming to an end. It has been a painstaking and time-consuming process. The paintings were thoroughly examined and a detailed report of the damages was drawn up. A great quantity of information concerning the physical and chemical composition of the paintings has been accumulated, and the conservation methods used are based on the results of numerous tests and reports, in addition to a meticulous evaluation of the choice of methods.

The restored paintings will be on display in this year’s summer exhibition, from May 23 to September 26. They will be presented together with relevant artworks from the collection and documentation of the main features of the conservation process. More information about the conservation on www.munch.museum.no.