Niels Onstad was a Norwegian shipowner and art collector.

Niels Onstad as born in Kristiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

. In 1935, together with his brother Haakon Onstad, he started the shipping company, Niels Onstad Tank Rederi A / S, which later was named Niels Onstads Tankrederi with headquarters in Oslo. Haakon Onstad had entered ship owning in 1932 with the Pan Gothia but because of the uncertain financial times the ship was given Swedish registry under Rederi A/B Pagota. In 1940, Niels Onstad fled to the United States during the Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany

Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany

The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany started with the German invasion of Norway on April 9, 1940, and ended on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of German forces in Europe. Throughout this period, Norway was continuously occupied by the Wehrmacht...

. Haakon Onstad relocated to Kungsbacka, Sweden where he formed Rederi A/B Kungsoil and Rederi A/B Monacus.

In 1956 Niels Onstad married Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic Champion in Ladies Singles, a ten-time World Champion and a six-time European Champion . Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies figure skater...

. Niels Onstad, whose mother had been a painter, had many contacts in the Norwegian art world, including the Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker and an important forerunner of expressionist art. His best-known composition, The Scream, is part of a series The Frieze of Life, in which Munch explored the themes of love, fear, death, melancholia, and anxiety.- Childhood :Edvard Munch...

. Together Onstad and Henie established the Henie-Onstad Art Centre

Henie-Onstad Art Centre

The Henie-Onstad Art Centre is an art museum located at Høvikodden in Bærum municipality, Norway.The Henie-Onstad Art Centre is situated on a headland jutting into the Oslofjord, approximately 10 km south of Oslo...

 at Høvikodden

Høvikodden

Høvikodden is a headland in Bærum municipality, Norway, located by the Oslofjord near the populated area Høvik, from whence its name was taken.It is the site of the well-known Henie-Onstad Art Centre. A small beach is located nearby....

 in Bærum

Bærum

is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sandvika. Bærum was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. A suburb of Oslo, Bærum is located on the west coast of the city....

southwest of Oslo.