Declared a “degenerate” by the Nazis when they occupied Norway in 1940, an order was issued for him to leave his house, but it was never carried out. When he died in 1944 authorities found the second floor of his home stacked floor to ceiling with more than 1,000 paintings, 4,400 drawings, and a staggering 16,000 prints, lithographs, woodcuts and etchings.

It seems that a major component of his hoard consisted of duplicates he created anticipating Nazi destruction of his life’s work. The inventory was left to the city of Oslo and became the core of the Munch Museum.