Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the

national gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, located on the peninsula

Blasieholmen Blasieholmen is a peninsula in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is located east of Kungsträdgården. Originally a small island, named Käpplingen, it became a peninsula, connected to Norrmalm, during the 17th century. Among the buildings at Blasie ...

in central

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manage the National Portrait gallery collection at Gripshom, Gustavsbergporclain museum, a handful of castle collections and the Swedish Institute in Paris (

Institut Tessin The Institut Tessin, also known as the Centre culturel suédois, is a museum in Paris dedicated to the history of Franco-Swedish artistic exchanges. It is located in the Hôtel de Marle at 11, rue Payenne in the city's 3rd arrondissement, and is o ...

). In the summer of 2018 Nationalmuseum Jamtli opened in

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...

as a way to show a part of the collection in the north of Sweden. The museum's benefactors include King

Gustav III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

and

Carl Gustaf Tessin Count Carl Gustaf Tessin (5 September 1695 – 7 January 1770) was a Swedish Count and politician and son of architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger and Hedvig Eleonora Stenbock. He was one of the most brilliant personages of his day, and the most ...

. The museum was founded in 1792 as Kungliga Museet ("Royal Museum"). The present building was opened in 1866, when it was renamed the Nationalmuseum, and used as one of the buildings to hold the 1866 General Industrial Exposition of Stockholm. The current building, built between 1844 and 1866, was inspired by North

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

architecture. It is the design of the German architect

Friedrich August Stüler Friedrich August Stüler (28 January 1800 – 18 March 1865) was an influential Prussian architect and builder. His masterpiece is the Neues Museum in Berlin, as well as the dome of the triumphal arch of the main portal of the Berliner Schloss. ...

, who also designed the

Neues Museum The Neues Museum (English: ''New Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1843 to 1855 by order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in Neoclassical and Renaissance Revival styles, it ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. The relatively closed exterior, gives no hint of the spacious interior dominated by the huge flight of stairs leading up to the topmost galleries. The museum was enlarged in 1961 to accommodate the museum workshops. The present restaurant was instated in 1996. The museum building closed for renovation in 2013 and reopened on 13 October 2018. The $132 million overhaul sought to put more of the museum’s collection on display and to match the security, accessibility, fire safety and climate control of a modern institution.

History

The museum’s early history

File:The Milliner (François Boucher) - Nationalmuseum - 17775.tif, ''The Milliner'',

François Boucher François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...

, commissioned by

for

Louisa Ulrika Louisa Ulrika of Prussia ( sv, Lovisa Ulrika; german: Luise Ulrike) (24 July 1720 – 16 July 1782) was Queen of Sweden from 1751 to 1771 as the wife of King Adolf Frederick. She was queen mother during the reign of King Gustav III. Backgr ...

. As with several other European national galleries, the history of the Nationalmuseum is largely synonymous with the development from royally to state-owned, and by extension publicly available collections. In Sweden, the foundation was laid for today's state art collections in the 18th century. Several of the works included in the Nationalmuseum collection of, for example, 18th-century French paintings were once owned by Queen Lovisa Ulrika. In 1777, the Queen's financial situation became unsustainable, in part as a result of large-scale and costly collecting. The debts were settled by her son, Sweden's then King

, in exchange for her renouncing her collections and also

Drottningholm palace The Drottningholm Palace ( sv, Drottningholms slott) is the private residence of the Swedish royal family. Drottningholm is near the capital Stockholm. Built on the island Lovön (in Ekerö Municipality of Stockholm County), it is one of Swede ...

The building

The project with a new Royal Museum in Stockholm was one of the largest and most lavish construction works of all time, which would take twelve years to complete and another three years to complete the interior work. The German architect

was responsible for the design of the building and the Swedish architect

Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander (June 23, 1816 – May 9, 1881) was a Swedish architect and artist. Biography Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He was the son of Georg Fredrik Scholander (1785-1825) and Karin Nyström (1786 ...

was responsible for the interior design. The building was inaugurated in 1866 at the same time as the Stockholm Exhibition in 1866. The Nationalmuseum has been a state building monument since 1935. The building is owned and managed by the

National Property Board of Sweden The National Property Board of Sweden ( sv, Statens fastighetsverk, SFV) is a Swedish State administrative authority, organised under the Ministry of Finance. SFV is responsible for managing a portion of the real property assets owned by the Stat ...

Collection

The museum collection consists of about half a million drawings from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

to 1900, a prominent 17th-century collection of

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

and other

Dutch painters Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People ...

, and a collection of porcelain items, paintings, sculptures, and modern art as well. In total the collection amounts to circa 700 000 objects. The museum also has an art library, open to the public and academics. Nationalmuseum holds the largest collection of

portrait miniature A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

s in the world, with more than 5 200 works. The collection features miniatures from many European school's, including works by

Nicholas Hilliard Nicholas Hilliard () was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some larger cabinet miniatures, ...

Isaac Oliver Isaac Oliver (c. 1565 – bur. 2 October 1617) or Olivier was an English portrait miniature painter.Baskett, John. ''Paul Mellon's legacy: a passion for British art'' (Yale University Press, 2007) pp. 240-1. Life and work Born in Rouen, he ...

Louis-Marie Autissier Louis-Marie Autissier ( 1772 – 1830), was a French-born Belgian portrait miniature painter.Aronson & Wieseman p. 93 According to Marjorie E. Wieseman, curator of European painting, at the Cincinnati Art Museum, "Autissier's success as a m ...

among others. A significant portion of works derives from the master collector Carl Fredrik Dahlgren, while the more exclusive works were donated by Hjalmar Wicander, a cork factory owner. Production of bottle corks for the brewery industry provided the basis of his fortune. Wicander also donated funds specifically for additional purchases of miniatures.

Notable works

File:Pietro Perugino - St Sebastian - WGA17313.jpg,

Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Ear ...

St. Sebastian Saint Sebastian (in Latin: ''Sebastianus''; Narbonne, Narbo, Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Empire c. AD 255 – Rome, Roman Italy, Italia, Roman Empire c. AD 288) was an early Christianity, Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional beli ...

File:The Lawyer, possibly Ulrich Zasius, 1461-1536, humanist, jurist (Giuseppe Arcimboldo) - Nationalmuseum - 15897.tif,

Giuseppe Arcimboldo Giuseppe Arcimboldo (; also spelled ''Arcimboldi'') (1526 or 1527 – 11 July 1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books. These w ...

, ''The Lawyer, possibly Ulrich Zasius, 1461-1536, humanist, jurist'' File:Manlius Torquatus Fighting a Gaul.jpg, Ludwig Refinger, ''Manlius Torquatus Fighting a Gaul'' File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - "The Kitchen Maid" - Google Art Project.jpg,

, The kitchen Maid File:Rembrandt Simeon’s Song of Praise.jpg,

, ''Simeon's song of praise'' File:Joos de Momper IcarusFXD.jpg,

Joos de Momper Joos de Momper the Younger or Joost de Momper the Younger (1564February5, 1635) was a Flemish landscape painter active in Antwerp between the late 16th century and the early 17th century. Brueghel's influence is clearly evident in many of de Momp ...

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus ''Landscape with the Fall of Icarus'' is a painting in oil on canvas measuring currently displayed in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels. It was long thought to be by the leading painter of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance pai ...

File:The Holy Family by Candlelight (Jacob Jordaens) - Nationalmuseum - 18772.tif,

Jacob Jordaens Jacob (Jacques) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and tapestry designer known for his history paintings, genre scenes and portraits. After Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, he was the leading Fle ...

, ''The Holy family by candlelight'' File:Boy playing the Flute (Judith Leyster) - Nationalmuseum - 18123.tif,

Judith Leyster Judith Jans Leyster (also Leijster; baptised July 28, 1609Molenaer, JudithNational Gallery of Art website. Accessed February 1, 2014. – February 10, 1660) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works, portraits, and still lifes. Her work was h ...

, ''Boy playing the Flute'' File:Marble busts in Room 1280, the Sculpture Courtyard. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden.jpg, Marble busts in Room 1280, the Sculpture Courtyard. File:Antoine Watteau - The Love Lesson - Google Art Project.jpg,

Antoine Watteau Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, a ...

, ''The love Lesson'', c. 1716-1717 File:Rabbit and Copper Pot (Jean Siméon Chardin) - Nationalmuseum - 17788.tif,

Jean Siméon Chardin Jean Siméon Chardin (; November 2, 1699 – December 6, 1779) was an 18th-century French painter. He is considered a master of still life, and is also noted for his genre paintings which depict kitchen maids, children, and domestic act ...

, ''Rabbit and Copper Pot'' File:François Boucher - The Triumph of Venus - Google Art Project.jpg,

The Triumph of Venus ''The Triumph of Venus'' is a 1740 oil-on-canvas painting by François Boucher. It inspired ''The Birth of Venus'' by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. The painting was one of the large number of drawings and paintings acquired by Carl Gustaf Tessin during ...

File:The Lady with the Veil (the Artist's Wife) (Alexander Roslin) - Nationalmuseum - 21152FXD.jpg,

Alexander Roslin Alexander Roslin (spelled Alexandre in French, ; 15 July 17185 July 1793) was a Swedish portrait painter who worked in Scania, Bayreuth, Paris, Italy, Warsaw and St. Petersburg, primarily for members of aristocratic families. He combined insight ...

, The Lady with the Veil File:Marie Antoinette-children-1785-6-Wertmuller.jpg,

Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller (February 18, 1751 – October 5, 1811) was a Swedish painter whose notable works include ''Danaë receiving Jupiter in a Shower of Gold''. Wertmüller was born in Stockholm and studied art at home before moving to Paris i ...

, ''Queen Marie Antoinette of France and two of her Children Walking in The Park of Trianon'', 1785 File:The Cellist (Self-portrait) (Gustave Courbet) - Nationalmuseum - 20159.tif,

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...

,''The Cellist (Self-portrait)'', 1847 File:Auguste Renoir - La Grenouillère - Google Art Project.jpg,

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "R ...

, La Grenouillère File:Castles in the Air (Anders Zorn) - Nationalmuseum - 24345.tif,

Anders Zorn Anders Leonard Zorn (18 February 1860 – 22 August 1920) was a Swedish painter. He attained international success as a painter, sculptor, and etching artist. Among Zorn's portrait subjects include King Oscar II of Sweden and three American ...

, ''Castles in the Air'', 1885 File:Paul Gauguin Bretagne 1889.JPG,

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

, Fields by the Sea, 1889 File:Hanna Pauli - Frukostdags.JPG, Hanna Pauli, ''Frukostdags'' File:Still Life with Plaster Cupid (Paul Cézanne) - Nationalmuseum - 19606.tif,

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...

, ''Still Life with Plaster Cupid'' File:Interior with a Reading Lady (Vilhelm Hammershøi) - Nationalmuseum - 18752.tif,

Vilhelm Hammershøi Vilhelm Hammershøi (), often anglicised as Vilhelm Hammershoi (15 May 186413 February 1916), was a Danish painter. He is known for his poetic, subdued portraits and interiors.Souren Melikian,Hammershoi's decade of brilliance, before banality set ...

, ''Interior with a Reading Lady'', c. 1900

Drawings

The collection of drawings contain c. 500 000 sheets, spanning from the late medieval period to about the year 1900. The core being more than 2 000 old master drawings collected by

. The sheets were acquired at the important sale of the court banker

Pierre Crozat Pierre Crozat (1665–1740) was a French financier, art patron and collector at the center of a broad circle of ''cognoscenti''; he was the brother of Antoine Crozat. Biography The brothers Crozat were born in Toulouse, France, the sons of a we ...

in the summer of

1741 Events January–March * January 13 – Lanesborough, Massachusetts is created as a township. * February 13 – Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, popularizes the term "the balance of power" in a spe ...

. Tessin was one of fourteen collectors who bought at bargain prices. Because of financial reasons the collection had to be sold to king Adolf Fredrik. File:Dürer - Bildnis eines jungen Mädchen.jpg,

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

, ''Portrait of a Young Woman with Braided Hair,'' 1515 File:Ghirlandaio.jpg,

Domenico Ghirlandaio Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi (, , ; 2 June 1448 – 11 January 1494), professionally known as Domenico Ghirlandaio, also spelled as Ghirlandajo, was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Florence. Ghirlandaio was part of ...

, ''Head of an Old Man,'' ca. 1490 File:Hendrik Goltzius - Self-portrait.jpg,

Hendrick Goltzius Hendrick Goltzius, or Hendrik, (; ; January or February 1558 – 1 January 1617) was a German-born Dutch printmaker, draftsman, and painter. He was the leading Dutch engraver of the early Baroque period, or Northern Mannerism, lauded for his ...

, ''Self-Portrait,'' ca. 1590–91

"The new Nationalmuseum"

Joseph Ducreux - Selfportrait, called La Surprise (The surprise) - NM 7496 - Nationalmuseum

On the 3 of February 2013 the Nationalmuseum closed in preparation for renovation. The museum was in need of an extensive renovation and refurbishment as the building was worn by intensive use. In 2009,

(SFV) was commissioned to carry out a feasibility study and in 2010 SFV was commissioned to produce a building program that was presented to the government in 2011. In 2012, planning began for renovation and rebuilding of the Nationalmuseum and in February 2013 the Nationalmuseum began its evacuation of the museum building. One year later, on 20 February 2014, SFV was commissioned by the government to carry out renovation and conversion of the Nationalmuseum into a fully modern museum building, adapted to future museum operations with retained cultural-historical values in the unique, listed building. The work took place in close collaboration with the tenant Nationalmuseum. Joseph Ducreux - Selfportrait, called Le Silence (The Silence) - NM 7495 - Nationalmuseum

Joseph Ducreux - Selfportrait, called Le Silence (The Silence) - NM 7495 - Nationalmuseum

During the renovation, the museum building itself on Blasieholmen was closed to the public. During the time when the museum building was closed, the Nationalmuseum continued to show its art collection in other places in Stockholm, Sweden and abroad. The museum was reinaugurated on 13 October 2018 by King Carl XVI Gustaf in the presence of parts of the royal family, Minister of Culture Alice Bah Kuhnke and thousands of visitors . The museum's exhibition space has been expanded and can now receive twice as many visitors and display almost three times as many works. In addition to a technical update, previously clogged windows and ceiling lanterns have been taken up to create more daylight and views of the city. The noisy restaurant has been given a better, quieter location and replaced with an airy and quiet sculpture courtyard. The museum has regained a rich color scheme inspired by the original colour palette.

References

External links

National Museum of Fine ArtsVirtual tour of the Nationalmuseum
provided by

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...

* {{Authority control Infrastructure completed in 1866 Art museums established in 1792 Art museums and galleries in Stockholm National museums of Sweden 1792 establishments in Sweden World's fair architecture in Stockholm