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The Nobel Prize Diploma’s Century Long Artistic History

Early Nobel Prize art was largely inseparable from the diploma's calligraphy, with a small number of artists illuminating the text. Over time, the art expanded to fill half of the folio and was created anew each year to align with each honoree's contribution to the sciences, literature or the well-being of the world.

(Editor’s note: This article was originally published in October 2023.) The prestige of winning a Nobel Prize is an award in and of itself, but honorees receive more than the distinction. The prize consists of a monetary reward, a ‘green gold’ medal plated with 24k gold and, for winners of the Nobel prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Economics and Peace, an original artwork.

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Art is arguably the defining feature of the modern laureate diploma, but it has been part of the Nobel Prize since the award’s inception. In 1901, the first year the prize was awarded, Norwegian painter Gerhard Munthe created a lithograph for the Peace Prize that was used through 1969 before it was replaced in 1970 with a woodcut by Norwegian artist and illustrator Ørnulf Ranheimsæter.

Early Nobel Prize art was often inseparable from the body of the diploma. Sofia Gisberg’s designs for Chemistry prize laureates (including Marie Curie in 1911) were more ornamental than artistic, though adeptly done. Her 1918 work for laureate Fritz Haber stands out as quite different, with its beautiful renderings of manors and parklands in the diploma’s wide........

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