Hédi Fried is this year’s Portrait of Honour
On Saturday 13 June, the 2015 Portrait of Honour will be unveiled at Gripsholm Castle. The subject this year is Hédi Fried, the writer and psychologist, as portrayed by the photographer Sanna Sjöswärd. It is a subtle, insightful portrait of one of the last living Holocaust survivors.
New acquisition: Rug designed by Gustaf Fjaestad and woven by his sisters Anna and Amelie
Nationalmuseum has added a rug designed by Gustaf Fjaestad to its collection of 20th-century Swedish textiles. The rug, featuring a motif with the title Goshawk, was woven by the artist’s sisters, Anna and Amelie Fjaestad, in 1927. Gustaf Fjaestad, a member of the National Romantic school, was noted for his skill in combining acute observations of nature with ornamental design.
Innovative glass at Nationalmuseum Design this summer
On 17 June, an exhibition with the title Glass is Tomorrow opens at Nationalmuseum Design, located inside Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm. The result of an international project to highlight the potential of glass, the exhibition will feature around 200 glass pieces and prototypes co-created and produced in workshops held at various glassworks across Europe.
New acquisition: View of Vesuvius from Villa Quisisana by Johan Christian Dahl
Nationalmuseum has acquired View of Vesuvius from Villa Quisisana, one of the few Italian landscapes by Johan Christian Dahl (1788–1857) still in private hands. The newly acquired painting is an important document from a particularly significant period in Dahl’s life.
Nationalmuseum’s summer exhibition to feature 100 favourite works
This summer’s exhibition at Nationalmuseum, 100 Great Paintings, will be a chance to revisit old favourites from the museum’s collection and to discover new ones. Exactly 100 paintings will be on show, with the emphasis on works from the late 19th century. To accompany the exhibition, Nationalmuseum is producing a lavishly illustrated catalogue and an app that serves as an audio guide.
New acquisition: Photographic portraits by Rolf Winquist
Thanks to a generous donation by the photographer Hans Gedda, Nationalmuseum has acquired an extensive collection of photographic portraits by Rolf Winquist. The donation comprises a mixture of exhibition-quality material and test shots. They show Winquist’s technical mastery and his artistic eye, which brought the individual character of the models into relief.
New acquisition: Portrait by Christen Købke
To add to its collection of paintings from the Danish Golden Age, Nationalmuseum has acquired a portrait by Christen Købke of the artist’s nephew, Johan Jacob Krohn, at the age of five. Painted in 1846, the portrait is one of the artist’s most sensitive, successfully capturing the child’s personality.
New acquisition: Watercolours by Ivar Arosenius
Nationalmuseum has acquired two watercolour paintings showing two different sides of the publicly loved artist Ivar Arosenius. Evil Powers is a jocular personification of evil, depicting a she-dragon with her young. The second work is a sketch for a fairytale series entitled The Caliph’s Golden Bird.Over the years, Nationalmuseum has continuously added works by this artist to its collection.
Exhibitions at Nationalmuseum spring 2015
Nationalmuseum at Konstakademien
Denise Grünstein – En face
19 February – 3 May
The exhibition on and by photographer Denise Grünstein is based on the suite of images 1866 taken in the empty museum building at the start of 2014. 19 works from the suite are on show for the first time, as well as a number of selected works from earlier suites of images.
100 Great Paintings
11 June
New acquisition: English cabinet in imitation lacquer
Nationalmuseum has acquired a magnificent English cabinet in imitation lacquer. Manufactured circa 1680, the cabinet had been part of the Biby estate collection since 1788. Nationalmuseum purchased the piece at last summer’s auction of items from the Biby estate.
Denise Grünstein exhibition at Nationalmuseum next spring
An exhibition on and by photographer Denise Grünstein will open at Nationalmuseum on 19 February. The exhibition is based on the art project that the photographer ran in the empty museum building earlier this year. The suite of images is entitled 1866 after the year in which the museum opened and it is being shown for the first time.