Louise Nevelson and Elgaland-Vargaland at Moderna

Entrance to Moderna

I was invited last week to the press preview of the autumn exhibitions coming to Moderna, Stockholm's modern art museum.They have three different exhibitions premiering this season, two this week and one (Manipulate the World, Connecting Öyvind Fahlström) later in October. The two that opened this week are Louise Nevelson (until Jan 14, 2018) and Elgaland-Vargaland (until Nov 12th).

Nevelson press preview in front of "Total-Totality-All"

Louise Nevelson was an American sculptor who often worked with wood, cardboard and even paper; creating sculptures and reliefs, some monumental in size. Her work was abstract, influenced by Cubism, and often monochromatic... completely black, white, brown or even gold. Nevelson also explored the creation of collages, using these mediums, creating works of art smaller in scale than her larger reliefs and sculptures. While the current exhibition is small in scale, taking up one room at the museum, some of the pieces are larger than life. Especially the grand work "Total-Totality-All".

Part of Nevelson exhibition

In 1992 the artists Leif Elggren and Carl Michael von Hauswolff declared themselves kings of Elgaland-Vargaland. which can be found in "the border between countries". In the 25 years since, this conceptual work of art has spawned a flag, national anthem, coat of arms, currency, stamps, passports and other adminstrative documents. They claim over 900 citizens and have opened embassies (art exhibitions in reality) in several other countires. In celebration of 25 years, they have created this exhibition which showcases the documents, official paraphernalia and other objects which they have collected/created over the past quarter of a century.

National coat of arms, Elgaland-Vargaland © CM von Hausswolff/L Elggren

Moderna is located on the island of Skeppsholmen. The easiest way to get to the museum from the Rival Hotel is to take the Djurgård ferry from Gamla Stan. There is also a bridge connecting the island to the downtown area. Most of the museum has free entrance. For example there is no admission to see their permanent collection, which contains works from artists like Warhol, Pollack, Picasso, Matisse, Dali and more, as well as some temporary exhibitions like Louise Nevelson. Other exhibitions, like Elgaland-Vargaland, have an admission fee. Don't miss visiting their gift shop which has a wide variety of fun presents, posters and art books. Click here for other autumn art exhibitions in Stockholm.

Stop by the gift shop