What do health and modern architecture have in common?

Villa Stenersen is a masterpiece of Norwegian functionalism. It was designed by Arne Korsmo (1900–1968) for Annie and Rolf E. Stenersen, who moved in in 1938. The house was carefully planned to accommodate the financier and art collector Stenersen’s large art collection, which is still considered one of the most important private collections in Norway. The building and property are listed.

In this exhibition created especially for Villa Stenersen, artist Espen Gleditsch has focused his camera on a number of sanatoria in Europe and Norway, contemplating their design as a precursor to modern architecture. In his photographs, he explores the space of the buildings and their natural surroundings.

Gleditsch’s photographs transform the abstract ideas and historical influences that underlie the exhibition into concrete images of light, humidity, sky, sun, wind and nature. The exhibition features twenty new photographs.

Healthcare architecture as a precursor to modern architecture

The architectural ideals of early healthcare infrastructure around 1900 and modernist residential buildings are as relevant today as they were at the turn of the 20th century: large windows, open-plan solutions and easy access to balconies and gardens. But do we think about the ways such design can benefit our health?

“We are looking forward to present Villa Stenersen as part of an artistic whole, with Espen Gleditsch’s photographs framed by this unique architecture, its interiors and surrounding nature. All in one place,” says Ingrid Røynesdal, Director of the National Museum.

“The National Museum is an interdisciplinary museum for art, architecture and design. This makes it natural for us to approach architecture from unusual angles, as in this exhibition, which looks at architecture and its history through the lens of contemporary art.”

Pictures that breathe

Light and air are defining characteristics both in Gleditsch’s photographs of tuberculosis sanatoria and of Villa Stenersen as an architectural space. Here, Gleditsch explores how such settings affect us.

“For me, the exhibition is an expression of something hopeful, the idea of healthcare architecture as a response to a problem. Here, people reached our for light and air, quite literally. The pictures are meant to breathe – to breathe life into the theme,” says Espen Gleditsch.

Light and air in tranquil surroundings

Sanatorium architecture developed as part of the treatment of tuberculosis, a disease that was widespread in the 19th century. Before the discovery of antibiotics in the 1940s, light and fresh air, rest and tranquillity in rural surroundings were considered a recipe for health. Bright surfaces, ceramic tiles and steel tubing that were easy to clean helped in the fight against bacteria.

With large windows, open floor plans and easy access to the surrounding nature, sanatorium architecture is closely aligned with the ideas of modernism. In 1934, a few years before he designed Villa Stenersen, Korsmo himself suffered a serious episode of tuberculosis.

Espen Gleditsch (b. 1983) is an artist who often uses photography to ask how history is told and interpreted and how it changes. He has made a name for himself with a number of exhibitions and projects that explore the role of photography in communicating art and architectural history.

Meet Espen Gleditsch in the exhibition
There will be opportunities to hear Espen Gleditsch talk about the exhibition in various artist talks and artist guided tours.

Facts about the exhibition
“Espen Gleditsch. Sanatorium Stenersen”
Villa Stenersen, Tuengen allé 10C, Oslo
10 May–31 August 2025
Open: Thursday 14.00–19.00, Saturday and Sunday 11.00–17.00

Curated by the National Museum:
Joakim Skajaa, curator exhibition
Gudrun Eidsvik, curator education

• For the first time, Villa Stenersen features as part of an artistic concept that integrates architecture, interiors and nature.

• Photographs of Paimio Sanatorium by architect Alvar Aalto (Finland), Zonnestraal Sanatorium by architects Jan Duiker, Bernard Bijvoet and Jan Gerko Wiebenga (Netherlands), the Queen Alexandra Sanatorium and the Schatzalp Sanatorium (Switzerland), Luster sanatorium (Norway), and Villa Stenersen.