Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

Summer Art Exhibitions 2019

National Museumn
Summer is almost upon us! This means that the high season for tourism is starting and many museums open great exhibitions, geared for the influx of visitors to the city. And Stockholm has one of the highest rates of museums per capita, so... something for everyone. If history is your cup of tea, then we have many museums and attractions that concentrate on history, Swedish culture and the royal family. If you are more interested in art and design, here are the planned summer exhibitions at Stockholm's main art museums and galleries. If you are coming in the next couple of weeks (May), click here for the spring exhibitions.

  • Fotografiska (photography)- their two main summer exhibitions are Scarlett Hooft Graafland's "Vanishing Traces" (May 24th to Sept 8th) and Vincent Peters "Light Within" (May 24th to Sept 8th). Open late into the evening, great opportunity to squeeze in some more culture in your day.  
    Wilhelm Bendz, Familjen Waagepetersen, 1830 @Nationalmuseum
    Photo by     SMK, Statens Museum for Kunst
  • National (classic art and design)- besides their extensive permanent collection of classic art and design, they do have temporary ongoing exhibitions, like "The Danish Golden Age" (until July 21st) and "Finn Juhl: Architectural Furniture Designer" (until September 22nd). 
  • Moderna (modern art)- several ongoing exhibitions, including Sharon Hayes "Echo", and Palmsteirna-Weiss "Vivid Scenes 1964-1984". They have one upcoming summer exhibition: Arthur Jafa "A Series of Utterly Improbable yet Extraordinary Renditions" (June 26th to Sept 8th). 
  • ArkDes (architecture & design)- besides their permanent exhibit on architecture in Sweden, this season they will also have "The Future Starts Here" (until August 4th) and you still have a few more weeks to see "Architecture Projects: Skeppsbron" (until June 9th). 
  • Millesgården (sculpture & art)- most people come to visit the beautiful sculpture gardens featuring the work of Carl Milles, but they also have a gallery with temporary exhibitions.The upcoming exhibition is "Lena Anderson's World" (June 19th to September 22nd).
    Lena Anderson, 2004©Lena Anderson, Mollan och mormor på altanen.
    @Millesgården
  • Kulturhuset (mixed art)- in celebration of the 100th anniversary when women receievd the right to vote in Sweden they have an exhibition called "The Women in the Neighborhood" (until August 11th) looking at the women who lived in the area 100 years ago. 
  • Thielska Galleriet (Scandinavian fine art)- Their main summer exhibition is a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland (June 15th to September 29th). One of the highlights of this museum is their permanent collection of the works of Scandinavian artists like Eugene Jansson, Carl Larsson, Edvard Munch and more. 
  • Prins Eugen's Waldemarsudde (Scandinavian fine art)- there are quite a few ongoing & upcoming exhibitions, like the work of photographer Yanan Li, highlights from their art collection and an exhibition looking at the artist colony Grez-sur-Loing (featuring 80 pieces of art from a variety of artists. See link above for more gosip and dates. 
    Sculpture in Nature @Artipelag
    Photo by Samuel Lind. Jaume Plensa, "Ainsa IV" (2018)
  • Artipelag (art in archipelago setting)- a little bit outside of the city, but in a beautiful setting in the archipelago. Their ongoing summer exhibition is "Sculpture in Nature" (until Nov 3rd). 
  • Liljevalchs (contemporary art)- their summer exhibition, "Anders Petersen - Stockholm" just opened and will be running until September 1st. 
  • Bonniers Konsthall (contemporary art)- closed for the summer, last day is June 16th. 
  • Sven-Harry's Konstmuseum (mixed art)- their summer exhibition will be Gösta-Adrian Nilsson "Sjömanskompositioner" (May 30th to Sept 29th). Don't miss visiting the replica of Sven-Harry's home on the rooftop of the museum with his art collection, as well as the rooftop terrace. 
    Skapelsen by Gösta Adrain-Nilsson @Sven-Harry's Konstmuseum
    Photo by Per Myrehed

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Summer Pedestrian Streets 2019

Dryck wine kafe on the left
For several summers in a row now, the city of Stockholm turns certain streets into pedestrian streets during the summer months. They are pretty evenly distributed around the city and each year they add a couple of more streets and squares. This is a great idea as restaurants and bars on the streets can put out larger outdoor seating areas, letting people take advantage of the long summer evenings. It makes the neighborhoods more alive. In fact, the project is called "Levande Stockholm" which means an alive Stockholm or a vibrant Stockholm.
The pub Half Way Inn
Luckily for the Hotel Rival, one of these streets, Swedenborgsgatan, is literally around the corner from the hotel. Here you will find a wide range of restaurants, bars and cafés, including...

A great street to stroll down, soak up the local life and grab a bite to eat or drink. It gets dark quite late during the summer months in Sweden (if at all), so Swedes love being outside as late as they can.
The restauramnt Morfar Ginko
As I mentioned, there are several summer pedestrian streets spread throughout the city. The other streets in central Stockholm are: Rörstrandsgatan, Skånegatan, Nybrogatan, Norra Agnegatan, Norrtullsgatan, Hornsbergs Strand, Gamla Brogatan, Strömgatan and Drottninggatan. Click on the name to get a map showing the street's location. Drottninggatan is actually a pedestrian street year-round, but they have pimped out the northern portion of the street this year to make it more summery. 
Bistro Süd
The pictures in this article were taken at around 6:30-7:00pm to give you an idea of how light and sunny the evenings are.


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Summer Exhibitions At Fotografiska!

This past week I was invited to the unveiling of the museum Fotografiska's two new exhibitions for the summer: Vincent Peter's "Light Within" and Scarlett Hooft Graafland's "Vanishing Traces". Both exhibitions will be showing until September 8th. As usual, the museum manages to show very different exhibitions (motives, styles, subjects) at the same time, which always makes a visit to the museum more interesting.
The first exhibition we visited was "Light Within" by Vincent Peters. Peters is a German born fashion and portrait photographer and the exhibition features around 50 of his black and white portraits of well known people like Cindy Crawford, Jon Hamm, Christian Bale, Adriana Lima and Charlize Theron. While the subjects of his portraits are beautiful models and actors, the photographs are even more gorgeous as Peters plays expertly with light and shadows.
The other exhibition, "Vanishing Traces" by Scarlett Hooft Graafland, is about as different from "Light Within" as you can get. In this exhibition, you have beautiful, crisp and colorful photographs taken by Graafland in some of the most isolated places in the world... Iceland, the salt deserts of Bolivia, Yemen, the Canadian Arctic and more. Born in the Netherlands and trained as a sculptor, Graafland has painstakingly staged these photographs using local inhabitants with beautiful vistas she comes across in her travels.
Click here to read about my recent visit to the restaurant.
If you are interested in other art exhibitions in Stockholm this summer... click here for the list!

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Midsummer Weekend 2019

Picture I took two years ago at the pole raising ceremony at Skansen on Midsummer's Eve. 
Well, it is almost that time of the year again: Midsummer (June 21st to 23rd)! With the exception of perhaps Christmas, Midsummer is the biggest holiday in the Swedish calendar. It is also the weekend when confused tourists and visitors wander the streets of Stockholm and wonder why many parts resemble a ghost town. Generally, they either have no clue it is Midsummer (or even what it is) or they expected a more festive holiday atmosphere with parades and block parties, like a Catholic festival. But this is a sacred holiday, much like Christmas, which Swedes spend with family and friends, preferably in a summer home outside of the city. It is a very old holiday, celebrating the summer solstice, dating back to Sweden's pagan past. But as long as you are aware of the holiday and what it entails, you should be fine. Most places geared for tourists tend to be open or partially open. Here are some tips on what is open/closed, what to expect and where to celebrate:

Museums-


If you are travelling with children (or are young at heart) both the amusement park Gröna Lund and Junibacken, the home of Pippi Longstocking and her friends, are open all weekend.
Pippi Longstocking moves into Junibacken
Photo by Ulf Huett - Junibacken

Restaurants-

Here is where you can get into a little trouble. Many restaurants are closed for the whole weekend, while others will be closed at least on Friday. Higher-end, Michelin star restaurants are almost all closed Friday through Monday. Most hotel restaurants are open to the general public (like the Rival Bistro) all weekend. There are also some other restaurants that are open during Midsummer... your best luck will be with hotel restaurants, places in Gamla Stan as well as restaurants like Hard Rock Café. If you are staying at the Hotel Rival, contact me as soon as possible for help booking a table, as they will probably fill up and last minute reservations might be tough! 

Shopping-

Also a little tough. Many smaller boutiques will be closed for the whole weekend. Even large shopping centers, like Mood and Sturegallerian, will close on both Friday and Saturday (Sturegallerian is closed on Sunday as well). The two largest department stores, NK and Åhlens City, will close early on Friday (NK at 2pm and Åhlens at 5pm) and stay closed on Saturday. The Mall of Scandinavia will close on Friday at 4pm and be mostly closed on Saturday. Officially, it is only Saturday which is a bank holiday... but Friday is about as close as you can come "unofficially", so expect many pharmacies, banks and liquor stores to be closed that day as well.

Sightseeing-

Large sightseeing companies like Strömma run as normal with bus, boat and combination tours available all weekend. Smaller, independant sightseeing companies may be closed. If you are planning on visiting the archipelago this weekend, expect long lines at the ferries with people heading to and from their summer homes for the holiday, especially going out on Friday and coming back on Sunday. Public transportation runs as normal, though on a more limited "holiday" schedule, all weekend.
Midsummer
Photo by Clive Tompsett/imagebank.sweden.se

Experience Midsummer-

After all of this negativity, you may be wondering "but where do we experience the Midsummer celebrations?". Well, the best place to see how Swedes traditionally celebrate this holiday is at Skansen. Raising of the maypole, dancing the little frog dance, etc. Check their calendar for a program of what is going on all weekend long! You can also check this funny video to get a crash course in how to celebrate like a Swede, While many Swedes do leave the city, the few that are left will celebrate with picnics and games in the different parks throughout the city. So, when in doubt, just head outdoors to celebrate. If you are staying at the Hotel Rival and need further information... contact us directly at the hotel!
Midnight sun... 

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