Norrköpings Konstmuseum
About the Museum
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 is responsible for the public art of the municipality and directs the art collection. The museum contributes to the city development and continuously work to promote artistic expressions as natural part of the city environment.
The Collection
The collection is the core of Norrköpings Konstmuseum, the heart from where the activities spread. Parts of the collection is permanently exhibited and supplemented with immersed presentations of themes and artistry, through temporary exhibitions.
Norrköpings Konstmuseum is renowned for its Swedish avantgarde and Swedish contemporary art collections. Artist such as Gösta Adrian-Nilsson, Otto G. Carlsund, Isaac Grünewald, Greta Knutson and Vera Nilsson are represented with their central artworks. Norrköping Konstmuseum has always incorporated the current and the contemporary and therefor expanded the collection from an equality perspective. Contemporary and iconic works to be mentioned are Cecilia Edefalk’s A different motion and Ann Edholm’s Acefalen.
The museum also has a considerable international collection of prints dating from the 1400s until today, with major art works by artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Francisco de Goya and William Hogarth. The Swedish 1900s collection of prints is also well represented.
Exhibitions 2019
1 December 2018 – 28 April 2019
”To my surprise, a Brazilian man called Antonio, tells me he is related to a slave who Louise De Geer shipped on a slave vessel to Brazil in the 1600s. He did this supported by Queen Kristina of Sweden. Antonio felt that his own and his ancestor’s fate was forever connected with the name De Geer.” This meeting inspired Carl Johan De Geer to ask critical questions about our different living conditions. What do we know about Swedish colonialism? How do this story change our view of ‘the Father of Swedish industrialism’? Can guilt be inherited?
The exhibition is produced by Norrköpings Konstmuseum.
Gallery 5
Carl Johan De Geer, The Family and the Slaves, 2018.
18 May – 6 October 2019
Observing the works of Lovisa Ringborg (b.1979) is like being between dreams and reality. The focal point of the exhibition is a group of sculptures of blind, unborn or maybe sleeping creatures that rest on the gallery floor. They capture the attention of the room, but are at the same time introspective and withdrawn into their own world. The sculptures interacts with photography and moving images and add to the condensed and suggestive experience. The organic and fleshy drapery of the images makes you think of the inner organs of the body but also draws inspiration from Renaissance and Baroque paintings.
The exhibition is produced by Norrköpings Konstmuseum.
Gallery 5
Foto: Lovisa Ringborg/BUS2019, The Sleepers (the image is cropped), 2018, Photo Lovisa Ringborg.
28 September 2019 – 23 February 2020
Stefan Teleman (b. 1936) uses his haphazard autobiographical works as a starting point to target the defense industry, society’s never-ending hunger for growth and increased consumption. The work ESSE ET VIDERI (2019) constitutes the conceptual focal point of the exhibition with thematic outlooks on his art production. In 1961 he began his studies at the Royal Institute of Arts in Stockholm where he engaged himself in the society, driven to question old truths. In the 1970s he was a member of the Hofbrigaden – a pioneer group of graffiti painters, he was also editorial member of the art literature publisher Öppna Ögon in 1978 – 87 and has designed a multitude of public art commissions.
The exhibition is produced by Norrköpings Konstmuseum.
Gallery 3 & 4
Stefan Teleman/BUS2019, 2018 (the immage is cropped) Photo Stefan Teleman.
23 March – 1 September 2019
The beginning of the 1900s was a creative period in the European art- and cultural history as everything seemed to be possible and all boundaries dissolved. Paris is often described as the centre of this movement. Greta Knutson (1899-1983) settled there in 1920 to study with André Lhote and also met with the leader of the Dada movement, Tristan Tzara, who she married. Even though they divorced at the end of the 1930s, Greta Knutson has always been associated with him. The Art Museum currently broadens the view on the artist Greta Knutson with a research project aiming to localize and give a comprehensive presentation of her artistry. The exhibition contains drawings, paintings and sculptures, many of them displayed for the first time.
The exhibition is produced by Norrköpings Konstmuseum .
Gallery 3, 4 & 6
Greta Knutson-Tzara, Abstract Composition (the image is cropped), 1976, Photo Mats Arvidsson/NKM.
28 September 2019 – 19 January 2020
Between dawn and dusk there is daylight. Midnight sun and the darkness of the night, lamplight and windows are other endless sources of inspiration for artists through the centuries. Here we present a few works from the Swedish collection. The poet Gunnar Björling’s nuanced and well-balanced words describes the diversity and poetical potential, offering different aspects of the artwork as well as an invitation to quiet contemplation.
The exhibition is produced by Norrköpings Konstmuseum.
Gallery 6
Pelle Åberg/BUS2019, Dansbanan (the image is cropped), 1941, Photo Mats Arvidsson/NKM.
Katarina Andersson’s delicate painting elude verbal description. The glazes in egg tempera on canvas overlap in many thin layers and gives the illusion of the image slowly appearing. The abstract works capture emotions, feelings and experiences. Andersson (b. 1960) is educated at the Art School Valand in Gothenburg and Royal College of Art in London. The exhibition displays mainly new paintings, supplemented with some earlier artworks.
The exhibition is produced by Norrköpings Konstmuseum.
Gallery 5
Katarina Andersson/BUS2019, Pir III (the image is cropped), 2012-2014, Photo Mats Arvidsson/NKM
Hours
September-May
Tuesday-Sunday 11-5 pm
Wednesday 11-8 pm
June-August
Tuesday-Sunday 12-4 pm
Wednesday 12-8 pm
Always free admission to the collection.
Admission to certain, costly exhibitions.
Information about admissions can be found at the reception and at the webpage. Free admission on Fridays.
Closed
Mondays
Public holidays: 1/1 New Years Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, 1/5 Labour Day, 6/6 Sweden’s National Day, Midsummer Eve, Midsummer Day, 24/12 Christmas Eve, 25/12 Christmas Day, 26/12 Boxing Day, 31/12 New Years Eve.
Guided tours
Thursdays 2 pm and Sundays 1 pm (jun-aug only thursdays 2 pm)
Call the museum reception for details
Contacts
Phone +46 (0)11 – 15 26 00
konstmuseet@norrkoping.se
www.norrkopingskonstmuseum.se
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