Exhibition "Art et Liberté" at Moderna

This week I was invited to the press showing of the new exhibition, Art et Liberté, at Stockholm's modern art museum... Moderna. "Art et Liberté" was a collective of Surrealist artists who were active in Cairo, Egypt between 1938 and 1948. This exhibition has been on a tour of Europe, making stops in Liverpool, Paris, Madrid and Düsseldorf before arriving, at its last stop, in Stockholm. 

I really liked the exhibition. I do enjoy Surrealism and I wasn't really aware of Egyptian Surrealism earlier so it was especially interesting hearing their history and seeing their works of art. And the discovery of this lesser known art collective is really the point of the exhibition, as well as showing that it wasn't a fringe movement... it really was closely connected to other contemporary (and more well known) Surrealism art communities around Europe and the world. 

It was also interesting to see how the disruptive political landscape of that era, with the rise of Fascism, World War II and the end of colonial rule, influenced the collective as well as Egypt itself. The 200+ pieces in the exhibit range from large and small paintings to drawings, photographs as well as literature (pamphlets, magazines, documents, etc.) and more.

"Art et Liberté" will be showing until August 12th. Besides this exhibition, they have several other temporary exhibitions as well as their permanent collection. There is an entrance fee to certain exhibitions (like "Art et Liberté") while others have free admission. It is always free to visit their permanent collection! They do have a nice lunch restaurant and a café there... and don't miss a visit to their gift shop which has many great art books as well as fun design objects.

Moderna is located on the island of Skeppsholmen. The easiest way to get there from the Hotel Rival is by the Djurgård ferry, which makes a stop at Skeppsholmen, from Gamla Stan. There is also a bridge leading over to the island from the downtown area, so walking (it is a beautiful area to walk around), bus and taxi are other options. No subway station on this island.

One fun note... I just learned that the museum's main autumn exhibition will be with the work of Andy Warhol. Apparently, Warhol's first solo exhibition at a museum was in 1968, 50 years ago, at the Moderna Museum! Andy Warhol 1968... can't wait to see that.