Magne Malmanger, born on 10 May 1932 in Bergen, Norway, was among Norway's most prominent art historians. He made his mark in several roles—as a museum curator, as art critic, and as university professor. His academic interests ranged widely: from English and Norwegian painting in the 18th and 19th centuries, Italian architecture and art theory in the Renaissance and Baroque periods to Norwegian contemporary art in the second half of the 20th century. For his lifelong, outstanding contribution to art history, he was appointed Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav in 2017.
Although the centre of gravity in Magne Malmanger's research was Norwegian and Nordic painting in the 19th century, his many years in Rome also accommodated for significant contributions to Italian art history. Malmanger held positions at the Norwegian Institute in Rome in two periods: he was accademic secretary from 1968 to 1974, and Director from 1990 to 1996. At DNIR he worked on Renaissance and Baroque architecture, which he approached from the perspectives of intellectual history and the history of mentality. His most important contributions were a study of Alfonso of Aragon's triumphal arch at the entrance to Castelnuovo in Naples (Der Triumfbogen Alfonsos in Neapel und seine politische Bedeutung, 1975) and a theoretically thought-provoking study of Borromini's spiral spire on the university church of S. Ivo in Rome (Form as Iconology. The Spire of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, 1978). Both works were published in the institute's journal ACTA.
Magne Malmanger had a distinct theoretical interest and training, and in many of his essays he reflected on the conceptualisation of aesthetic experiences throughout history. However, he was strongly opposed to what he saw as excessive theorising in the field of art history. In his view, this tendency overshadowed the historical artworks as articulations of human experience. As such, they could be understood as "roads to reality"—to paraphrase the title of his essay on Leonardo da Vinci's conception of painting (1982).
As a teacher, Magne Malmanger was knowledgeable and inspiring, precise in his formulations, witty and ironic. During his directorship at DNIR, he introduced several cohorts of Norwegian art historians to Italian Renaissance culture and Roman Baroque.
The Norwegian Institute in Rome honour Magne Malmanger’ memory.