Gallery sights in Sweden
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Konstmuseet
Göteborg’s premier art collection awaits at Konstmuseet, with works by the French impressionists, Rubens, Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Picasso, as well as Scandinavian masters such as Bruno Liljefors, Edvard Munch, Anders Zorn and Carl Larsson. Other highlights include a superb sculpture hall, the Hasselblad Center photographic collection, and temporary exhibitions showcasing next-gen Nordic art. Outside, Götaplatsen is dominated by the bronze Poseidon fountain, infamous for scandalising locals upon its unveiling in 1931. This 7m-high colossus originally had private parts most men could only wish for. Alas it was all too much for Göteborg’s strait-laced citizens, who forced…
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Röhsska Museet
Refreshing Röhsska Museet is Sweden’s only art and design museum. Exhibitions cleverly contrast the classic and the cutting-edge, whether it’s Josef Frank and Bruno Mathsson furniture or 18th-century porcelain and Scandi-cool coat-stands. Eastern treasures include Chinese sculptures and Japanese theatre masks, while the museum’s burgeoning fashion collection spans haute couture to ’80s politicised T-shirts. Temporary exhibitions often favour the offbeat – think skateboard art and denim.
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Thielska Galleriet
Scandi art fans come here for Anders Zorn’s portraits and nudes, Carl Larsson’s portraits, Bruno Liljefors’ precisely rendered wildlife paintings, August Strindberg’s wild landscapes, and Edvard Munch’s paintings and sketches, which include an enormous portrait of Strindberg and one of the collection’s former owner, tycoon Ernest Thiel. Originally Thiel’s home, this island mansion was designed by Ferdinand Boberg, designer of Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde.
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Fotografins Hus
Currently under renovation, but set to reopen by press time, this is one of Stockholm’s best sites for photographic art. Decked out in furniture designed by Konstfack graduates, its six annual exhibitions showcase local and international talent, with past exhibitors including Hasselblad prize-winner David Goldblatt, Susan Heiselas and J H Engström, Sweden’s Wolfgang Tillmans. You’ll find their signatures on the foyer wall, behind which awaits a cosy little cafe.
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Färgfabriken Norr
An offshoot of Färgfabriken in Stockholm, the Färgfabriken Norr is a huge art space across the E14 motorway from Jamtli (take bus 14 or 8). It’s a cavernous room with an ambitious curatorial scope; the initial exhibition included work by some 80 artists, including David Lynch and JG Thirlwell, representing pretty much all forms, from painting, sculpture and video to installations using broken glass, body hair and lightning.
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Moderna Museet
Cheeky and serious in equal measure, Stockholm’s always-absorbing modern-art museum balances reliable crowd-pleasers like Robert Rauschenberg’s Monogram with provocative new work from the likes of Paul McCarthy. Special exhibits in the basement are included with admission and always worth investigating, and if the boundary-testing art makes you feel lightheaded, seek sustenance in the award-winning restaurant.
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Svensk Form
Stockholm’s foremost design centre features temporary exhibitions of cutting-edge industrial design and applied arts, and a Swedish design library and archive, as well as a cool little design shop and cafe, complete with copies of in-house design magazine Form. On Wednesday evenings, designers (and the design-inclined) drop in for a drink, a schmooze and regular design seminars.
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Galleri Mors Mössa
The Haga district is Göteborg’s oldest suburb, dating back to 1648. A hardcore hippy hang-out in the 1960s and ’70s, its cobbled streets and vintage buildings are now a gentrified blend of cafes, op shops and boutiques. It’s also home to Galleri Mors Mössa, one of Göteborg’s better private art galleries.
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Magasin 3
Aptly set in a gritty dockside warehouse, Magasin 3 is one of Stockholm’s brat-pack galleries. Its six to eight annual shows of contemporary art often feature specially commissioned, site-specific work from names like Siobhán Hapaska, James Turrell, Ronald Jones, Katharina Grosse and provocative American artist Paul McCarthy.
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Bonniers Konsthall
This ambitious gallery keeps culture fiends busy with a fresh dose of international contemporary art, as well as a reading room, a fab cafe and a busy diary of art seminars and artists-in-conversation sessions. The transparent clothes iron–shaped building is the work of Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor.
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Brändström & Stene
Tucked away in an anonymous industrial block, this is one of Stockholm’s best private art galleries. It’s famed for its intuitive sense for the next big thing, and past exhibitors have included Olafur Eliasson, Clay Ketter, Jan Håfström and Jeppe Hein.
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Form/Design Center
Form/Design Center showcases cutting-edge design, architecture and art against the 16th-century Hedmanska Gården. Pore over design magazines in the cafe or bag Scandi-cool design, fabrics and toys in the gallery shop.
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Konstmuseum
Konstmuseum is Norrköping’s impressive art museum. Its collection boasts important early-20th-century works, including modernist and cubist gems, as well as Carl Larsson’s dreamy Frukost i det gröna.
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Bror Hjorth’s House
Bror Hjorth’s House, the studio of beloved local artist Bror Hjorth (1894–1968), is jam-packed with Hjorth’s charming paintings and sculpture, and hosts temporary exhibitions.
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Malmö Konsthall
Malmö Konsthall, south of central Malmö, is one of Europe’s largest contemporary art spaces, with exhibitions spanning both Swedish and foreign talent.
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Kalmar Konstmuseum
The striking Kalmar Konstmuseum, in the park near the castle, dishes out brilliant temporary exhibitions featuring local and global art-scene ‘It’ kids.
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Rooseum
At the time of research, the extraordinary Rooseum, a turbine hall turned contemporary art gallery, was shut indefinitely. Contact the tourist office for updates.
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Växjö Konsthall
Växjö Konsthall showcases contemporary work by local and national artists; expect anything from minimalist ceramics to mixed-media installations.
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Hasselblad Center
There's an interesting sculpture hall at the Konstmuseet, the Hasselblad Center photographic collection, and temporary exhibitions covering the latest in Nordic art.
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Västerport
Västerport was the original point of entry into the city. Nowadays you can watch glass-blowing and pottery-making at the studios here, and buy the results.
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Carl Larssons Porträttsamling
If you like Carl Larsson's work, check out the Carl Larssons Porträttsamling, where there are 12 portraits of local worthies.
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Skånes Konstförening
For emerging, lesser-known and Scanian artists, check out Skånes Konstförening.
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Kommendanthuset
The old Kommendanthuset arsenal is just opposite the castle: it opens for temporary art exhibitions.
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Galleri Pingpong
For emerging, lesser-known and Scanian artists, check out Galleri PingPong.
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Konstmuseet
The Konstmuseet, once a seamen's barracks, is now a modern art gallery.
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