Thielska Galleriet

We continued our afternoon at The Thiel Gallery. Another beautifully situated museum space, in Djurgården in Stockholm. This huge palace was built 1904-07 as a home for the banker and patron of the arts Ernest Thiel and his wife Signe, and their extensive art collection.

The house itself was gorgeous, inspired both by the Orient, the Renaissance and the Art Nouveau style; a work of art itself.
At this time, Ernest Thiel was the richest man in Sweden. In 1896, he bought his first large painting, and started his collection. As the collection grew, his apartment in the city became too small, so this palace was built here on Blockhusudden to be both a gallery and a home. The upper floor was designed with two large halls, where the unique collection was, and is, displayed. The works interact with the architecture, the custom built interiors and even the gardens, in a beautiful way:

As Ernest Thiel lost almost all his fortune after the First World War, the palace, including the furnishings and the art collection, was bought by the Swedish government and made into a museum. It has been open to the public since 1925.

The art collection was impressive, mainly focusing on Scandinavian artists such as Eugène Jansson, Carl Larsson, Bruno Liljefors, Edvard Munch and Anders Zorn, art from around the turn of the 20th century.
This is portrait painted by Carl Larsson, of the lady of the manor, Signe Thiel, painted around 1900.

In addition to the two large halls, there was other rooms named after the artists of this generation, nearly all of whom became close friends to Thiel. The Carl Larsson room, the Hjalmar Söderberg room and the Axel Töreman room f.e.

Selfie:

Here as well I found some artwork that I had studied during my art history courses at Uni, so amazing to see them in the flesh, like this The Knight and the Maiden from 1897, by Richard Berg:

The grand Munch room, what an impressive space:

Not only was this the most beautiful space in the palace, but the artwork here were full of colour and energy. One of my favourites to the right here, The Navy Bathhouse by Eugène Jansson from 1907.

Thiel collected not only Scandinavian artists, there was also a bit of French Post-Impressionism on display. Very suited, considering the upcoming exhibition this fall at the museum. Here two works by Edouard Vuillard:

I loved this portrait of Ernest Thiel from 1902, painted by Eugène Jansson. It's the colours for me, always.

I also really enjoyed the temporary exhibition A New Light, with artworks by Stefan Johansson. The way he explored the light absolutely mesmerised me: