This year’s Portrait of Honour is of Herbert Blomstedt

The 2026 Portrait of Honour depicts the conductor Herbert Blomstedt and was painted by the artist Niklas Asker. The Portrait of Honour becomes part of the collection at the Swedish National Portrait Gallery and will be unveiled at Gripsholm Castle on 21 November.

We have recently learnt that Herbert Blomstedt has passed away, aged 99. Earlier this year, Blomstedt was chosen as the subject for this year’s Portrait of Honour. He and the artist Niklas Asker met at the start of the summer, and the portrait was completed during the autumn. It is gratifying that one of our greatest and most beloved musicians of all time has now been given a place in in the Swedish National Portrait Gallery, says Patrick Amsellem, Director General of Nationalmuseum.

Herbert Blomstedt became Sweden’s most successful conductor of all time. His career spanned seven decades. He made his debut in 1954 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at Konserthuset Stockholm and went on to become chief conductor of leading orchestras in Dresden, San Francisco and Leipzig. Herbert Blomstedt also made guest appearances with a long list of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, such as the Berlin Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was best known for his work with the symphonic repertoire and with works by classical and Romantic German and Austrian composers. However, he also made a decisive contribution to promoting interest in Swedish and Nordic music internationally. Through concerts and recordings, he introduced the music of composers including Franz Berwald, Carl Nielsen and Wilhelm Stenhammar to an international audience.

Niklas Asker began work on the portrait when he met Herbert Blomstedt in June this year. It is a depiction of Blomstedt at work, in a packed concert hall. The audience is watching the conductor, whilst the conductor is focused on the music and the musicians in front of him. The portrait captures Herbert Blomstedt’s simultaneously passionate and intensely precise way of working. Whilst Niklas Asker was painting the portrait in his studio, he listened continuously to Herbert Blomstedt’s recordings.

Niklas Asker lives and works in Malmö. He trained as an artist at Kuben Art School and Örebro Art College but has also trained as a comic artist at the Comic Art School in Malmö. He has held solo exhibitions at galleries in Malmö and London, amongst other places, and has taken part in several group exhibitions. Niklas Asker works in constant dialogue with art history, and his paintings are firmly rooted in a realist tradition, which is evident in the portrait of Herbert Blomstedt. Here, the paintings of the Swedish artist Anders Zorn have been a particularly strong source of inspiration.

The Swedish National Portrait Gallery at Gripsholm Castle is the world’s oldest national portrait gallery. It was founded in 1822 and is managed by Nationalmuseum. Several new works have been added to the portrait collection each year since 1959 – including a Portrait of Honour depicting a prominent Swede, which is donated to the collection by the Friends of Gripsholm Castle Association. The subject and artist are selected in collaboration with Nationalmuseum.

The Friends of Gripsholm Castle Association was created in 1937 with the purpose of supporting the “preservation and enhancement” of Gripsholm Castle and its collections. The portrait collection contains over 5,000 portraits of Swedish people, with previous Portraits of Honour featuring Benny Andersson, Ingmar Bergman, Hédi Fried, Astrid Lindgren, Britta Marakatt-Labba, Max Martin, Alva Myrdal and Svante Pääbo.

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The portrait will be unveiled at Gripsholm Castle, Mariefred on Saturday 21 November at 11.00 am. Following the unveiling, Per Hedström, Director of Exhibitions at Nationalmuseum, will lead a conversation about the portrait and Herbert Blomstedt’s work. The conversation will feature artist Niklas Asker and Stefan Forsberg, President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and former Director of the Stockholm Concert Hall.

Members of the press are asked to register in advance with Charliene Anderson, Gripsholm Castle, the Royal Court of Sweden,charliene.anderson@kungahuset.se or + 46 8 402 60 00.

For press information
Hanna Tottmar, Head of Press,press@nationalmuseum.se , + 46 8 5195 4400