Nationalmuseum’s major autumn exhibition Pride and Prejudice opens on 27 September. The focus is on female artists in France and Sweden during the 18th and 19th centuries and their opportunities to become professionals in their field. The show includes works by some of the women who managed to break into the world of the Royal Academies.
Nationalmuseum has acquired a very rare Jugendstil table lamp from 1915. It is one of only two known objects designed by Axel Enoch Boman for Orrefors. The lamp can be seen in the exhibition Light and Darkness which runs until 3 February.
On 20 June, Nationalmuseum launches its summer exhibition on light and darkness in art and life. The show presents examples of how our most renowned artists have used different techniques to mimic light and create depth. The core focus is on Nordic fin de siècle art, with around a hundred works on display from the museum’s own collection.
Queen Lovisa Ulrika’s memorial cup was donated to the museum at the annual meeting of the Friends of Nationalmuseum. This unique object was made by silversmith Pehr Zethelius and presented as a memento to Johan Wingård, Bishop of Gothenburg, in thanks for the funeral sermon that he gave for the deceased Queen in 1782.
From Tuesday 15 May until the end of summer, Gripsholm Castle will be open daily from 10 am – 4 pm. The castle, which is celebrating its 475th anniversary, offers something for everyone – from a floor dedicated to a princess, an 18th-century theatre, an armoury and a prison tower to one of the world’s biggest portrait collections. This year the family tours will start at 1 pm.
Nationalmuseum has acquired a painting by Swedish artist Hjalmar Sandberg. Sandberg participated in exhibitions in Paris in the 1870s and mixed with the greatest Swedish artists of the age, but is a name that has almost been forgotten. The painting of a scene in Vichy is inspired by French Realism and can be seen in the Modern Life exhibition.
Nationalmuseum’s collection of applied art and design now includes a number of pieces made in silversmith Gustaf Möllenborg’s workshop in Stockholm. The new acquisitions, which comprise a mantel clock, a pair of candlesticks and two salt cellars featuring elves eating porridge, are on display at the museum in the gallery of applied art and modern design.
10 May marks the start of Nationalmuseum’s Slow Art, an exhibition where technique, materials and painstaking processes take centre stage. The focus is on doing things well rather than quickly, on quality over quantity. The exhibition will present 30 or so works of applied art – all unique examples of superb craftsmanship.
When Nationalmuseum’s building closes down to be emptied for a year, its operations and collections will be moving out to continue engaging with the public across Sweden. Through a new collaboration with the illustrious Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, Nationalmuseum will also maintain a fixed base in the capital during the renovation period.
At Bukowski’s autumn auction last year, Nationalmuseum acquired one of Johan Tobias Sergel’s few remaining clay models from a series of royal portraits, a bust that has been in private ownership until now. The portrait of the 21 year-old Duchess Hedvig Elisabet Charlotta has a freshness and immediacy, with clear traces of the sculptor at work.
This spring’s big exhibition, Passions, opens on 8 March, and explores how artists have depicted various emotions over the centuries, from the Renaissance to the present day. The artists represented include such names as Dürer, Munch, Rembrandt, Tony Oursler, Rineke Dijkstra and Bill Viola.
Over the spring and summer, Nationalmuseum is showing The Art of Exaggeration – Caricature in Sweden. The exhibition encapsulates the development of Swedish caricature art, from the private sphere to a public prominence that echoes around the world. On display are around 90 drawings, prints and digital images from the 16th century to the present day.
