Nationalism

The populist and nationalism-based view of Swedishness, which is used politically today, is based on the idea of a static, ideal and construed past. The thought that there is a historical time and place to look back at, where everything was in a certain way, is not accurate.

When Nationalmuseum opened in 1866, people talked more about Scandinavism. At that time Sweden was in a union with Norway. In the 1890s, pictures and objects were not only symbols of a national ideology, they were also a part of creating and launching National Romanticism.

The scene stretches panorama-like across a snowy mountain landscape. A column of troops winds its way to the horizon. The uniforms and arms are accurately depicted, but the scene as a whole is a fantasy. Charles XII’s body was not carried on an open bier, but in a coffin pulled on a wagon. The artist has combined the return of the body with the story of General Armfeldt’s disastrous retreat across the Jämtland mountains.

National Romantic Movement

Today, our relationship to nature is one of the strongest components of Swedish national consciousness. It has its foundation in the romantic landscape painting of the late 18th century. Around 1900, the national parks were created and artists depicted the Swedish regions where they had their roots.

Considering that the sun never sets during our summer nights, paintings of blue twilight is typically Nordic. Already in the 1870s though the symbolists on the continent had made lyrical images of dusky landscapes. They said they were searching for spirituality and the “true nature” of existence.

Under a starry sky, a forest, deep in snow, hoar frost and sparkling ice crystals, casts its spell. Gustaf and Maja Fjæstad belonged to the Rackstad colony in Värmland, whose members sought to realise the idea of a total work of art, a home (today a museum) in which all art forms were of equal importance to the whole. Gustaf Fjæstad is also famous for his wooden furniture in a National Romantic style, made at the Eriksson Brothers’ workshop

National Romantic Dinner Services

To encourage customers to buy Swedish, Gustavsberg made services in a National Romantic style, with motifs drawn from the country’s own flora. Exotic hothouse plants were replaced with simple spring flowers such as snowdrops, hepaticas, cowslips and lilies of the valley. Two versions of the Hepatica service existed. This is the traditional one, with naturalistically depicted flowers, the modern variant had a more abstract pattern.

Beauty for All

Ellen Key’s moral philosophy was built around the concept of social motherliness, she wanted to transcend the boundary constructed between private and public life, at a time when women did not have the vote. Key believed that the home should be a model for the whole of society, and sought to politicise the home and family relations through publications such as Beauty for All (1899) and the Century of the Child (1901).

In the field of design and interior art, artists developed the concept of the Gesamtkunstverk. The idea was that all art forms should be given equal artistic attention and status.

The artist depicts her daughters, Astrid and Torun, in the Brate family home in Bergslagen in central Sweden. The image combines the fin-de-siècle dream of a happy childhood with manor-house romanticism and the meadow flowers of a Swedish summer. The light interior design ideals of today derive in part from this tradition, which in turn drew inspiration from Swedish vernacular objects, domestic crafts and the English Arts and Crafts movement.

Lilla Hyttnäs

Carl and Karin Larsson’s home furnishing ideals were promoted through picture books reaching a large audience in Northern Europe. Karin’s textiles, the colouring of the rooms and the bohemian blend of styles and objects were ground-breaking. But the couple were equally influenced by Nordic traditions as with cultural impulses from England, Germany and Japan.

The home was also characterized by the patriarchal gender roles of nationalism. Carl’s bedroom is the most magnificent room at Hyttnäs, with a huge four-poster bed, while Karin slept in the next room with the children, in a simple bed.

Jugend

The architectural and design term, which means youth, was developed at the turn of the 20th century in Germany, Austria and the Nordic countries. It was seen as a reaction to the 19th century imitations of historical styles. Simple, elongated shapes, smooth surfaces and decor with stylized plant ornaments are typical elements.

The style reflected the machine age and the objects could be produced with new artistic tools. Ironically, they also appealed to opponents and critics of machine production. Extreme skill is namely required to create straight lines and smooth surfaces by hand.

Koloman Moser’s chair has straight lines and smooth surfaces. The only decor is the graphic plant ornament in intarsia on the back pad. Moser was active in several fields, he made Gesamtkunstwerk where architecture, art and design, as well as the wearer’s clothes, could interact. He was an illustrator and graphic designer and produced objects and furnishings. In 1903, Moser was one of the founders of the Wiener Werkstätte.