Nordic Museum – Swedish traditions and trends
Description of the Nordic Museum
The Nordic Museum in Stockholm, seen from the Kaknäs Tower. Source: Wikipedia
Artur Hazelius (1833-1901), the founder of the Nordic Museum. Source: Wikipedia
A plate from the 17th century. Photo by Mats Landin, © Nordiska museet
The Nordic Museum (Nordiska muséet), located on Djurgården in central Stockholm, displays the cultural history of Sweden from the 16th century until today. The collections include enormous amounts of objects like furniture, clothes, house hold-objetcs and other things reflecting a 500 year period.
The museum was founded in 1873 by Artur Hazelius (1833 – 1901), a Swedish teacher and folklorist. Initially called the Scandinavian Ethnographic Collection, the museum changed name to the current ‘Nordiska Muséet’ in 1880. Hazelius was also the founder of Skansen, the worlds first open air-museum, established in 1891. Skansen is located in front of the Nordic Museum.
The museum building was completed in 1907, but it was originally planned to become three times the actual size. The magnificent main hall is dominated by an enormous scultpure of King Gustav Vasa, the so called founder of Sweden.
The Nordic Museum at Flickr
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I am a painter of contemporary “floorcloths” of painted canvas rugs. I am doing research into early european examples (if there are any) of what might have been called oil clothes for the floor and were the precursors of linoleum. there are examples in France and England and i beleive that some may have existed in Scandinavia too.
In the 60’s I studied at Konstfackskol on a Fulbright grant and have passable understanding of Swedish. I have been making floorcloths myself for 30 years–a melding of my textile experience at Konstfack and my classical painting background from my days at the Univ. of Buffalo. Please look at my website to understand my work–if you have any suggestions regarding the history of this product in scandinavia pleas let me know.
I am interested in locating and researching what are known in US as “floorcloths” and in england “oilcloths for the floor”. They date back to the 1700’s in France and England. I believe that Scandinavia may have had them too. On the other hand they may have become wall cloths instead. I have been making contemporary floorcloths for 25 years here in California after combining my painting skills with new printing on fabric skills that I learned at Konstfackskolan in the late 60’s. (I had a Fulbright grant in painting) It is from my scandinavian experience that I came to combine painting, printing and textile. I lived in Sweden for nearly 3 years and although I have not been back since 1973 I have a passable command of the language. Any help or suggestions that you may have regarding painted rugs for the floor would be helpful. I would like to apply for a grant thru the America-Scandinavian Foundation to research, write and paint more of my rugs. My website (to see what I am doing in this field is:patriciadreher.com)