The Art Museum Thielska Galleriet (Thiel Gallery)

I visited Thielska Galleriet (Thiel Gallery) yesterday with my Concierge colleagues from Les Clefs d'Or Sweden. Thielska Galleriet is one of Stockholm's most beautiful museums and they house one of the best collections of late 1800's and early 1900's Scandinavian masters... like Carl Larsson, Edvard Munch, Bruno Liljefors and Eugène Jansson to name a few. During our visit we were given a great guided tour of the building and collection. Very interesting!

By Carl Larsson

The building was originally the private residence of the banker Ernest Thiel which he built mainly for the purpose of housing his growing art collection (his apartment in town was getting too small for this purpose). Designed by the architect Ferdinand Boberg, who also designed the famous NK department store, the building was completed in 1907. The Depression in the early 1920's unfortunately ruined Thiel and he ended up selling both the house and his extensive art collection to the Swedish government.

By Eugène Jansson

Thiel was quite the active art collector and was, in fact, friends with many of the Scandinavian masters of his day. As the building was specifically designed to house and show an art collection, the space is pretty perfect with lots of wall space and natural light from skylights. Of special note is the "Munch room" which contains many works by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (best known for his painting "The Scream") among others. Beautiful room!

The "Munch room"!

An interesting side note, Thiel was a great admirer of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and in one of the tower rooms you can view Nietzsche's death mask. From this room you also have beautiful views of the Stockholm archipelago. Besides the collection, Thielska usually has a temporary exhibition or two. Currently the exhibition is "The Jobs Sisters - ceramics and textiles" (until June 2nd), and this summer they will take advantage of their beautiful grounds and be exhibiting the work of Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland with "The power and feeling of sculpture" (June 15th to September 29th). This is part of the celebration of 150th anniversary of Gustav Vigeland.

Gorgeous views of the archipelago

Thielska Galleriet is located out at the end of Djurgården island, near the mouth of Stockholm harbor. The easiest way to get there is by bus from Nybroplan in the downtown area (Bus 69 - a 20 minute journey). This means that it takes a little effort to visit the museum. But it well worth it! Especially during the summer when the location is extremely idyllic.

By Edvard Munch

The island Djurgården is a long park island filled with acres of woodlands and meadows. Almost every summer, I take the bus out to Thielska, visit the museum, eat lunch and then take a nice walk back along the water. The walk is beautiful (click here for an earlier article about the walk) and takes about an hour, depending on if you make any stops along the way.