Exhibitions at Nationalmuseum in 2022

The 2022 exhibition programme at Nationalmuseum offers a mix of older art, design, applied art, sculpture and photography. The spring starts with exhibitions on art and design in 1920s Sweden and Swedish women sculptors at the turn of the last century. The autumn programme features the mythical drawings collection of 16th-century Italian artist Giorgio Vasari, Christer Strömholm’s photographs from Paris, and an exhibition based on Lars Norén’s stage work Still Life.

Swedish Grace – Art and Design in 1920s Sweden
24 February–28 August 2022
Exhibited on the top floor

The exhibition covers the era known as the Roaring Twenties, which in fact was a decade of contrasts. While some partied like never before, others went hungry, governments faltered, and unemployment soared. The forces of tradition and nationalism were ranged against those of new technology and international modernism. In art, everyday realism and fine craftsmanship competed with post-Cubist modernism and mass manufacturing. Architects, designers and artists drew inspiration from around the world, borrowing motifs from classical antiquity, ancient Egypt and China. The exhibition presents art, design, film and fashion from a period of transition that laid the foundations of modern society. Featured artists include Gösta Adrian-Nilsson, Otto G Carlsund, Siri Meyer, Vera Nilsson, Edward Hald, Simon Gate, Anna Petrus, Nils Fougstedt and Carl Malmsten.

“What joy to be a sculptor!” Swedish Women Artists 1880–1920
17 March–11 September 2022
Exhibited on the middle floor

“What joy to be a sculptor! Artist. Hooray!” wrote artist Ida Matton in her diary in 1923, in spite of the tribulations she sometimes experienced in her chosen profession. Traditionally, the heavy and dirty work of a sculptor was seen as a male occupation. Sculptures of nude bodies were considered unsuitable for ladies. Nevertheless, a relatively large number of women trained as sculptors in Sweden in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but many of them were subsequently forgotten. The exhibition is the result of a multi-year project involving leading Nordic art museums and independent researchers from across northern Europe. The project also had a crowdsourcing component, where the museum invited private individuals to share forgotten stories of female sculptors. Visitors will have the opportunity to recognise and rediscover sculptures from public and private settings by artists such as Ida Matton, Ruth Milles, Alice Nordin, Agnes de Frumerie and Sigrid Fridman.

Giorgio Vasari’s Drawings: A Mythical Collection
6 October 2022–8 January 2023
Exhibited on the top floor

This autumn exhibition, coproduced with the Louvre in Paris, focuses on Giorgio Vasari’s legendary collection of drawings by Italian artists spanning the period from the 14th to the late 16th century. Vasari, one of the most prominent cultural figures in 16th-century Italy, made his name as an artist, architect and author of the book Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects. The exhibition features some 100 works by Italian Renaissance artists such as Domenico Ghirlandaio, Sandro Botticelli, Andrea Verrocchio, Andrea Mantegna, Filippino Lippi, Pietro Perugino, Raphael, Parmigianino, Sofonisba Anguissola, Primaticcio and Vasari himself. Works from Nationalmuseum’s own collection will be joined by a large number of works on loan from the Louvre, the Uffizi Galleries, the British Museum, the Albertina Museum, Chatsworth, Christ Church Picture Gallery, Museo di Capodimonte and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Christer Strömholm – Portraits in Paris
6 October 2022–8 January 2023
Exhibited on the top floor

Autumn also brings a major exhibition of Christer Strömholm’s photographs taken in Paris in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. The main focus will be on Strömholm’s many portraits of Swedish and international artists and leading cultural figures, but there will also be some unfamiliar images of contemporary Paris. Long considered one of Sweden’s most significant photographers, Christer Strömholm is one of the few to have achieved widespread international recognition. The exhibition includes portraits of artists such as Alberto Giacometti, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Yves Klein and Torun Bülow-Hübe, and authors such as André Breton, François Mauriac and Paul Andersson. It is curated by Joakim Strömholm in collaboration with Anna Nilsdotter.

Still Life – An Exhibition by Lars Norén and Bobo Ericzén
20 October 2022–22 January 2023
Exhibited on the middle floor

The exhibition is based on the work Still Life written by Lars Norén and staged at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, in 2017. In a fictional time somewhere between 1890 and 2015, something fragmentary and dreamlike plays out, without sound or words. In a black universe with a white door standing ajar, actors interact with the essence of things. Still Life was originally some 90 scenes, which have now been transformed into an exhibition comprising stills, videos, texts and objects from Nationalmuseum’s collection – a beautiful, living, gripping portrait of Sweden as it navigates 125 years of change. The exhibition was created by the playwright Lars Norén and the film director and photographer Bobo Ericzén.

Media contact
Hanna Tottmar, head of press, press@nationalmuseum.se, +46 8 5195 4400