Nicolai Tangen, the head of Norway’s $1.6 trillion sovereign wealth fund, is standing on a dock on the outskirts of his hometown of Kristiansand, admiring the converted 1930s grain silo that now houses his $46 million collection of Nordic modernist art.
The former hedge fund manager is about to spend the day touring the galleries of the Kristiansand Kunstsilo, pointing out various works that he and his wife spent the past 30 years collecting. But for now, he’s eyeing the 306-meter, 5,000 passenger Costa Diadema cruise ship docked across the canal, recognizing that for many of the tourists disembarking, the town’s gleaming white art museum will be their first destination.
