Karl Johan

Do you see which street we are on here? Karl-Johan on a beautiful summer day in 1942. Do you recognize any of the people walking down the street? In the middle of the painting, we see an elderly man in a dark suit with his arms crossed. That's the artist Edvard Munch on his way to the paint store. Munch has been a great inspiration in Vebjørn's artistic career; he often used a green color when painting people who were jealous, sick, or had inner turmoil. For instance, he painted a piece called "the murderer," where the person's face is also painted in green. Vebjørn has used this green color as a quote from Munch when painting the Nazis. Do you see the green car? That's Reichskommissar Josef Terboven, the top leader of the Nazis in Norway, along with propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. They were on their way to the Parliament, which the Nazis took over as their office during the war. Behind the car, there's a boy with a red beanie. The red beanie was a secret resistance symbol, and it became forbidden to wear it. You can also spot the well-known Norwegian resistance fighter Gunnar "Kjakan" Sønsteby on his bike, double agent Sonja Wigert in a black dress, and comedian Leif Juster to the right in the picture, representing the cultural sector's spiritual mobilization against the occupation.