New Fall Exhibition at the National Museum

I stopped by the National Museum today to see their new exhibition "Staging Power". Being the history buff that I am... I thoroughly enjoyed it! That being said, there is a lot there for art lovers as well. The exhibition looks at "the art of ruling through art" in the Napoleonic Era. It concentrates on three very similar (at the same time different) rulers of the era... Napoleon, Czar Alexander I of Russia and Carl-Johan of Sweden. Besides the grand portraits of the rulers and their families, the exhibition contains many great artifacts from the rulers: uniforms, clothes, jewellery, letters, furniture, weapons, etc; You get to see how the ruling elite used art to convey power and how constant war formed this ideal. Some artifacts were especially interesting to see... Napoleon's uniform with famous bicorne hat for example, as well as one of the gold bay leaves from his coronation wreath.

This exhibition was formed through cooperation between the National Museum and the Hermitage in St Petersburg, Russia (where the exhibition will be next year). So many of the objects are from the Hermitage as well as on loan from museums all over Europe including France, Sweden, the UK and Poland. Sweden's king has also graciously loaned the exhibition many artifacts from his personal collection.

The exhibtion is on display until the 23rd of January. The museum is closed on Mondays, otherwise it opens at 11am and closes at 5pm, except on Tues & Thurs when it closes at 8pm. Entrance costs 120 SEK, 100 SEK for students and seniors. Youths under 19 get in for free as well as people with the Stockholm Card. To find out about other exhibitions at the National Museum, check their website (linked above) or read my last blog entry about the museum. The museum is located on Blasieholmen - within walking distance from the Rival Hotel, otherwise the closest subway station is Kungstädgården (blue line).

Click here for information about other art exhibitions going on in Stockholm this autumn, and here for info about other museums in the city.

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