Press release -
Exhibitions at Nationalmuseum 2026
Sergel – Fantasy and Reality
19 February – 9 August 2026
In Spring and Summer 2026, Nationalmuseum will present a major exhibition on sculptor and draughtsman Johan Tobias Sergel. He was a central figure in Swedish art during the late 18th century and is also considered one of the most important sculptors of his time on an international scale. The exhibition offers a comprehensive view of Sergel’s life and art—from his early years in Stockholm in the 1760s, through his extended study trips to France and Italy, to his commissions for King Gustav III upon his return to Stockholm. A smaller version of the exhibition will be shown in autumn 2026 at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York. It will mark the first time Sergel has been the subject of a monographic exhibition in the United States.
Badin – Beyond Surface and Mask
19 February – 9 August 2026
Running alongside and partially integrated with the exhibition on artist Johan Tobias Sergel, Nationalmuseum is opening a smaller-scale exhibition about Adolf Ludvig Gustav Fredrik Albert Badin, also known as Couschi. Badin is thought to have been born in 1747, seven years after Sergel, as a slave on the island of Saint Croix, a Danish colony in the Caribbean. He was later taken to Europe, where he was eventually presented as a “gift” to Sweden’s Queen Lovisa Ulrika. The exhibition seeks to create a nuanced and multifaceted understanding of how a person of African descent rose to become a significant figure in Swedish society of the time. Nationalmuseum has commissioned a new film about Badin by artist Salad Hilowle that will appear in the exhibition.
Wilhelm Kåge & Shōij Hamada
23 April 2026 – 28 February 2027
A meeting of minds between a Swedish and a Japanese master potter, through their shared love of form, clay and glaze. Both were socially engaged – Kåge as the designer of “More Beautiful Everyday Things” for Gustavsberg, and Hamada as co-founder of the Japanese Mingei (folk-art) movement, who created wonderfully handcrafted pieces that every home could use and enjoy. The exhibition tells the story of a shared drive to unite beauty and function, and of a 20th-century cultural exchange between Sweden and Japan. This is a collaboration with the Japan Folk Crafts Museum.
To the Sea!
24 September 2026 – 7 February 2027
Seaside resorts sprang up along coastlines everywhere in the late 19th century, when bathing in the sea, luxuriating on the beaches and staying in the new hotels was considered the height of modernity. And the resorts also proved irresistible to artists. In Normandy, impressionists such as Claude Monet and Edgar Degas depicted sea views and beach scenes, while in Denmark the Skagen Painters produced portraits of each other strolling along pristine white beaches in the summer light. The exhibition To the Sea! considers how modern resort culture emerged and how it was captured by the artists of the time, in Europe and the US.
For press information
Hanna Tottmar, Press Officer, press@nationalmuseum.se, +46 8 5195 4400
Categories
Nationalmuseum is Sweden’s museum of art and design. The collections comprise some 700,000 objects, including paintings, sculpture, drawings and graphic art from the 16th century up to the beginning of the 20th century and the collection of applied art and design up to the present day. Nationalmuseum is a government authority with a mandate to preserve cultural heritage and promote art, interest in art and knowledge of art.
