Picasso's Regjeringskvartalet murals

He designed five murals (The Beach, The Seagull, Satyr and Faun and two versions of The Fishermen) for the Regjeringskvartalet ('Government quarter') buildings in central Oslo, Norway.

[1][2] The buildings onto which the murals were executed are known as the 'H-Block' or Highrise (1959) and 'Y-Block' (1968); they were designed by the Norwegian architect Erling Viksjø.

The Y-Block is one of Viksjø's most beautiful buildings constructed in Naturbetong, a special concrete casting technique he developed together with engineer Sverre Jystad that was patented in 1955/-57.

The possibilities that lay in this new material with sandblasted surfaces were decisive for Picasso's contribution and lead to a 17-year long collaboration with the Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar.

Only one other building worldwide, the House of Architects in Barcelona, has this kind of integral art by Picasso and Nesjar in a public space.