In parallel with the renovation of Nationalmuseum, extensive work to create totally new presentations of the museum's collections has taken place behind the scenes. Among other things, visitors notice that the various art forms are displayed side by side, accompanied by a chronological narrative.
After five years of moving, renovation and reconstruction, Nationalmuseum once again opens its doors to visitors on 13 October. But on 10 October the museum is giving a sneak peek to school children from Boden in the north to Hässleholm in the south. They will get to see, listen to, taste and create things along with the museum’s art educators.
On Saturday 13 October, Nationalmuseum will reopen its doors after five years of moving, renovations and reconstruction. At 11.00, the inauguration ceremony will commence on the museum steps outdoors with an inaugural speech. HM King Carl will then cut the ribbon and there will be musical performances by Tensta Gospel Choir, KITOK, Frida Hyvönen and Sofia Karlsson.
John Singer Sargent13 October 2018-13 January 2019
This is the first time that a major exhibition about the American painter John Singer Sargent (1856 -1925) is shown in Scandinavia. Sargent is often described as one of the leading portrait painters of his generation. His art is extremely popular in both the US and the UK but here in Sweden, it is still fairly unknown. This exhibition includes
Thanks to a donation from the Bengt Julin Fund, part of the Friends of Nationalmuseum, Nationalmuseum’s newly-renovated building will feature a unique artistic adornment. The artist Frida Fjellman has created a sculpture in glass, wood and metal.
The National Museum has acquired a portrait of P.A. Söderström, a retired farmer. It was taken in 1962 by the photographer Sune Jonsson. It was included in the book Images of the Children of Grace. The portrait is an interesting example of Jonsson's documentary photography, and is also one of the few representations of a small farmer in Sweden’s National Portrait Gallery.
Nationalmuseum has acquired three landscapes by travelling German artists. Ernst Fries’ The Waterfalls at Tivoli with the Ponte Lupo, Temple of Vesta, and Temple of Sibyl, Carl Morgenstern's View towards Sorrento, and Georg Eduard Otto Saal’s Study of Vermafossen Waterfall. Nationalmuseum’s collections previously contained no works of this kind by German artists.
Nationalmuseum has acquired a painting by Per Krafft the Younger (1777-1863) depicting the blind former general Belisarius. This painting ought to be regarded as one of the most prominent Swedish works executed in the French Neoclassical style.
Nationalmuseum has acquired a work by one of the foremost Italian artists of the seventeenth century, Salvator Rosa (1615-1673). The work belongs to a distinct and important category within Rosa’s artistic production, his panel drawings. Nationalmuseum is now second only to the Pitti Palace in Florence in having such a distinguished collection of this type of work by the artist.
Nationalmuseum houses Sweden's largest collection of drawings by the Dutch masters. The collection includes important works by Rembrandt and his pupils, as well as drawings by Abraham Bloemaert, Jan van Goyen, Herman Saftleven, Willem van de Velde, and many others. This richly illustrated catalogue of Dutch master drawings in Swedish public collections is the result of extensive research work.
A mirror just acquired by Nationalmuseum is among the most magnificent examples of Swedish Baroque ever produced. The ornately carved and gilded frame contains engraved, inset plate glass. The mirror’s unusually well-documented origins go back to the initial order.
Nationalmuseum has acquired a portrait of film legend Garbo, produced in 1928 by American photographer Edward Steichen. It was part of an entire series published in Vanity Fair. The portrait is an interesting example of contemporary avant-garde photography involving an extreme close-up.
