Alf Bøe

Alf Bøe (8 September 1927 – 8 June 2010) was a Norwegian art historian.

He was born in Bergen as a son of professor Johannes Bøe (1891–1971) and Dagny Godager (1896–1982). He took the Bachelor of Letters degree at Wadham College, Oxford University in 1954 and the mag.art. (PhD equivalent) and cand.philol. degrees at the University of Oslo in 1955. He also studied at École du Louvre from 1956 to 1957. Between 1955 and 1972 he was married to Kari Færden, a daughter of Elisabeth Reiss, and a first cousin of Helge Reiss, niece of Thorleif Reiss and a granddaughter of Georg Reiss. In 1972 he married Ulla Tarras-Wahlberg.

From 1959 to 1962 he was a curator at Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum and from 1962 to 1968 he was the head curator at the Norwegian Museum of Decorative Arts and Design. He was the director of Norsk Designcentrum from 1968 to 1973, lecturer in art history at the University of Oslo from 1973 to 1976, and then the director of Oslo municipality's art collections from 1976 to 1995. Bøe was president or chairman in Landsforbundet Norsk Brukskunst, Skandinavisk Museumsforbund, Norske kunst- og kulturhistoriske museer, Selskabet for Oslo Byes Vel and the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry.

His bachelor's thesis From Gothic Revival to Functional Form is also his best known work, even internationally. Other books include Om filigran (1959 with Thale Riisøen), Norwegian Industrial Design (1963), Porsgrunds Porselænsfabrik (1967), Den norske designpris (1969), Samliv med fortiden (1976) and Edvard Munch (1992). He contributed to volumes five, six and seven of Norges kunsthistorie.

He was decorated as a Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1992 and as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1998. He died in June 2010 in Oslo.