Collections

Nationalmuseum's collections contain paintings, sculpture, drawings and prints ranging from the Renaissance until turn of the century 1900. The collection of applied arts and design spans from late Medieval up until present day. Nationalmuseum manages the National Portrait Gallery, on display at Gripsholm Castle. We also administer the collection of Gustavsberg porcelain.

Paintings and sculpture

The Nationalmuseum collections of paintings and sculptures comprise some 16,000 works. Artists such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Goya, Renoir, Degas and Gauguin are represented, as are the Swedish artists Carl Larsson, Ernst Josephson, C F Hill and Anders Zorn. The collection includes art from the late Middle Ages up to the beginning of the 20th century, with the emphasis on Swedish 18th and 19th century painting. Dutch painting from the 17th century is also well represented, and the French 18th century collection is regarded as one of the best in the world.

Design and applied arts

The museum's collection of applied art, design and industrial design spans over a long period, from the 14th century to today. It consists of ca. 30,000 objects of which a third are ceramics and thereafter, in order of numbers, textiles, glass, precious and non-precious metals, furniture, books etc.

Form and artistic value are the basic criteria for museum acquisitions. Pieces from Sweden and the other Nordic countries are given priority, but even other countries are represented, especially those that have been significant for design development.

Prints and drawings

The collection of Prints and Drawings comprises about 500 000 items from late mediaeval times up to the year 1900. Central to the collections are in excess of 2000 master drawings that Carl Gustaf Tessin acquired during his tour of duty as Sweden's ambassador to France. Of particular importance are collections of works by Rembrandt, Watteau, Edouard Manet, Johan Tobias Sergel, Carl Larsson, Carl Fredrik Hill and Ernst Josephson.

National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Castles Collections

From the beginning the Royal Castles Collections consisted, as appears from the name, of the parts of the art collections of the royal pleasure-palaces which were owned by the State. Today the Royal Castles Collections at the Nationalmuseum administer the majority of the paintings, drawings, engravings, and sculptures existing in five of the royal pleasure-palaces, i.e. Gripsholm, Drottningholm, Strömsholm, Rosersberg and Ulriksdal.The largest collection is the National Portrait Gallery founded in 1822 at the Gripsholm Castle which today includes 5000 works of art. Gradually, the area of responsibility of the Royal Castles Collections has been extended and now comprises 18 palaces, manors and other units.

The Gustavsberg Collection

The Gustavsberg Collection consists of approximately 45 000 objects, manufactured at the Gustavsberg Porcelain Factory from the 1830’s up until the factory's closing in 1994.