Swedish modernism and contemporary art
Norrköpings Konstmuseum welcomes everyone, adults and kids, to discover our exhibitions on their own or by joining one of our activities. In Ateljé Krumeluren you can try your hand at creating something in variety of materials with our art educators.
Hours
Closed
Mondays
Public holidays: 1/1 New Years Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, 1/5 Labour Day, Midsummer Eve, Midsummer Day, 24/12 Christmas Eve, 25/12 Christmas Day, 26/12 Boxing Day, 31/12 New Years Eve.
Guided tours
The guided tours has been cancelled due to covid 19/the corona virus. We refer to our Digital Museum.
Call the museum reception for details.
Contact
Reception
Phone: +46 (0)11 – 15 26 00
E-mail: konstmuseet@norrkoping.se
The Art Museum’s history began in 1901 when the industrialist Pehr Swartz donated the extensive art collection of diocese librarian E. H. Segerstéen to the Norrköping Art Society. The collection consisted of more than 500 artworks and was donated to the city when Norrköping opened the first museum and library in Villa Swartz in 1913. The art collection expanded with more donations and city architect Kurt von Schmalensee was commissioned to design a new building at Kristinaplatsen where Norrköpings Konstmuseum moved in 1946. Today Norrköpings Konstmuseum has one of the country’s finest collections of Swedish modernism and contemporary art as well as a comprehensive international collection of prints.
The Sculpture Park situated next to the Art Museum is a hidden gem, built with donations from Sture Gilgård and opened in 1960. The sculptures are part of the collection and contains artworks by amongst others Arne Jones, Olle Baertling, Elli Hemberg and Jacob Dahlgren in the park.
Norrköpings Konstmuseum has one of Sweden’s finest collections of Swedish modernist and contemporary art. It includes Gösta Adrian-Nilsson (GAN), Otto G. Carlsund, Lena Cronqvist, Siri Derkert, Cecilia Edefalk, Isaac Grünewald, Sigrid Hjertén, Carl Larsson and many others. Thanks to donations and bequests, the collection continues to grow, for instance, with contributions from the Friends of the Konstmuseum. In 2016, the Museum received a donation of 180 late 20th-century works from the gallerist Carl-Johan Bolander.
The collection also includes installations, prints, photography, design and crafts. Altogether, there are nearly 30,000 works in the Museum. In the sculpture park, which opened in 1960, you can see works by Olle Bærtling, Eric Grate, Elli Hemberg, Arne Jones and others. The print collection is international and goes far back in art history, with impressive pieces by artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn and Francisco Goya. Swedish graphic artists are also plentifully represented.
The collection is continuously re-arranged to keep the presentation fresh and inspiring. We show smaller exhibitions on separate themes or oeuvres to show some of the rich material in storage. Surprising newcomers are displayed alongside modernist icons.
Norrköpings Konstmuseum is responsible for the city’s public art and manages the municipal art collection. In this way, the Museum contributes to urban development in Norrköping and promotes artistic design as a natural part of the local environment. This is one way of making art available to everyone in Norrköping. Schools, special needs housing and public places linked to urban development are our top priority. These projects are often developed in collaboration with other municipal organisations and companies, according to a mutual agreement. We are currently engaged in a major innovative public art initiative for the design of the waterfront district called Inre hamnen. Project drafts can be seen at the Museum.
Art in public spaces is essential in democracies, offering aesthetic experiences and opportunities for dialogue and reflection. The designed living environment enhances our understanding of everyday life.
EXHIBITIONS
10 February – 29 September 2024
Galleries 3 & 4
The major exhibition in 2024 at Norrköpings Konstmuseum is Tyra Kleen – A Constant Searcher, the biggest presentation to date of the artist, photographer and world traveller Tyra Kleen. Born in 1874, Tyra Kleen was both independent and adventurous in a time before women had the vote. Her year-long travels were motivated by curiosity and interest in religious and spiritual questions. This exhibition is based on recent research by Karin Ström Lehander, and features several rediscovered works that have not been shown for more than a century. We invite you to enjoy Tyra Kleen’s (1874-1951) own photographs, colourful illustrations and symbolically- charged lithographs and paintings.
Tyra Kleen – A Constant Searcher is produced by Norrköpings Konstmuseum in collaboration with Uppsala konstmuseum, Bohusläns museum and Hallands Konstmuseum, where the exhibition will be shown in 2024-2026.
9 March – 8 September 2024
Gallery 5
An anonymous housing area in Norrköping holds an internationally unique underground archive: The Archives for the Unexplained. It is a repository for images, films, reports and accounts of supernatural events, unexplained natural phenomena and UFOs. This folkloristic archive keeps growing through donations from all over the world. The exhibition Earth Shadow was created in dialogue with the archive. The artists, Magnus Bärtås, Cecilia Germain, Ida Idaida and Isak Sundström relate to the archive material and share the Archives’s basic premise of not automatically dismissing unexplained phenomena without examining them. Our attempts to relate to visions, revelations, hallucinations and signs are, and should be, explorative and creative.
The exhibition is produced by Norrköpings Konstmuseum. Curators: Magnus Bärtås and Isak Sundström.
27 April – 3 November 2024
Gallery 6
Tell me a story! is an educational exhibition with pictures by the author and illustrator Lena Sjöberg. The exhibition is a collaboration between Norrköpings Konstmuseum and Norrköping City Library, to promote reading and creativity among kids and teens. Lena Sjöberg is an author and illustrator. She made her literary debut in 2005, with a picture book, Hur man hittar en skatt, and a humorous book, Dom är sötast när dom sover. Since then, she has written and illustrated 30 books, been nominated for the August Prize twice and received the Best Swedish Book Design award five times.
The exhibition is a collaboration between Norrköpings Konstmuseum and the Norrköping City Library.
28 September 2024 – 19 January 2025
Gallery 5
Abstract painting is imbued with a certain power. This power is what brings together Thomas Edetun, Jimmy Gustavsson and Fredric Ilmarson. The artists seek to challenge themselves creatively. And this also challenges you, the viewer, to titillate your eyes and imagination. In this playful spirit of experimentation, and alongside recent separate works, the artists present a large collective piece that appears to burst from its two-dimensional frame and take its position in the middle of the room. They also want to show us that there are many ways of seeing the world. A welcome message in a time when we seem to prefer simple solutions to complex problems. Beyond the Surface offers resistance to our narrowminded times.
The exhibition is produced by Norrköpings Konstmuseum, with support from Region Östergötland.
26 October 2024 – 27 April 2025
Galleries 3 & 4
After the Second World War, a new perspective on art emerged on both sides of the Atlantic. There were common ideals for building a new society that would never again have to experience the atrocities of war. Abstract or non-figurative painting came to symbolise a new future in the field of visual art. These are paintings that give free range to the viewer’s imagination. 1946 was the year Norrköpings Konstmuseum opened in new, modern premises at Kristinaplatsen. The Language of Freedom highlights painting from 1946 to 2024 in the museum’s rich collection. Eskil Hansson, Ann Edholm, Carl Magnus and Cajsa Holmstrand are among the featured artists. Welcome to an exhibition that focuses on materials, colours and form.
The exhibition is produced by Norrköpings Konstmuseum.
The new presentation of the collection, A Linear Chimera, features 300 years of Swedish art, highlighting key modernist works. The exhibition is chronological, showing pieces from the museum’s collection, with a special emphasis on drawings, watercolours and gouaches, to illustrate how modern Sweden evolved.
A Linear Chimera – 300 Years of Swedish Art displays new and old favourites, treating visitors to playful mischievous where famous treasures are juxtaposed to recent acquisitions.
