Stockholm’s Contemporary Gallery Scene Is Building on Its International Connections

Once perceived as secluded—both literally and figuratively—due to its archipelagic nature on the edge of Europe, Stockholm’s art scene is transcending its confines. This evolution is showcased by Stockholm Art Week, running from May 14th through 19th, presenting its most expansive form since its inception in 2011. The event features more than 60 participants and up to 150 program activities, anchored by northern Europe’s premier art fair, Market, from May 17th through 19th at Liljevalchs Museum on Djurgården—a lush, green island in the heart of Stockholm. The fair presents 47 galleries and works by more than 100 artists.

Adding distinct layers to the week, the city’s art world is on full display. Key events include queer icon Vaginal Davis’s multi-venue solo exhibition, orchestrated by Moderna Museet; and showcases at institutions including Bonniers Konsthall; Fotografiska; and the city’s iconic public square, Sergels Torg, which will also host a slew of dynamic programs. Artipelag, a museum on Värmdö island, is also offering reduced admissions for its exhibition featuring Belgian artist Berlinde De Bruyckere.

The art week is also part of a new international network, Spider, which celebrates European art weeks from Amsterdam to Vienna and underscores Stockholm’s burgeoning global role as a leading art destination on the continent.

Much of this growth is down to the recent upsurge in the city’s contemporary art galleries, which has been instrumental in boosting Stockholm’s art world clout.

“In the aughts, large institutions were more vital, with Moderna Museet as the center and sun of the Swedish art universe,” explained Nils Forsberg, editor in chief of Sweden’s biggest art magazine Konstperspektiv, and art critic for the Swedish daily morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter. “Galleries were doing their thing, but many lacked a sufficient sense of initiative. Now, galleries are booming. If you want to take part in the new, that’s where to go.”

Among the most influential of these newer galleries is CFHILL, which opened in 2015. Michael Elmenbeck, co-founder of the gallery—which is exhibiting Swedish artist Marie-Louise Ekman at Market Art Fair this week—attributed the driving forces behind this evolution to a combination of “new ideas, new energy, and international focus.” As well as conceptual galleries such as his and fellow gallerists such as Carl Koystal, a new generation of gallerists are focusing on presenting new talents in exciting ways.

“Pop-up exhibitions and spaces have also become a new trend,” Elmenbeck said. “And the district of Östermalm, where money lives in big apartments, has become popular again with galleries like Larsen Warner, Public Service, and Andrehn-Schiptjenko bringing together 10 galleries to visit within 500 meters.”

A fluid approach is also being observed with the current aesthetic trends in Stockholm. Lovisa Berntson from Berntson Bhattacharjee—a Swedish-founded gallery based in Fitzrovia, London, with a satellite program in Stockholm—noted that social media is significantly shaping artists’ approaches, pushing them to consider how their works translate into digital formats. Simultaneously, she also sees how today’s Stockholm art scene is characterized by nostalgia: “Longing for the countryside, memories, and classical references. I think, as a result of our unstable times, art can serve as a catalyst to escape and for the viewer to transcend,” she noted.

Robert Stasinski, the editor in chief of the Swedish artists’ association’s journal Konstnären, expanded on this. “A lot of it is eclectic, to say the least: traditional in form, with a wider spectrum of materials and craft-based works,” he said. “New technologies are sometimes intertwined, but I would say that the sellability of new media is in steep decline.”

At the same time, institutions like the Swedish Arts Council also distinguish Stockholm, especially during tough and unstable times, by creating a financial safety net for artists. Ben Loveless, director of Galerie Nordenhake’s Stockholm outpost—a gallery founded in Malmö nearly five decades ago with spaces in Berlin and Mexico City—remarked that “there is a full ecosystem with state-funded and private institutions and a functioning grant system, which is an example to other countries, as well as a group of engaged dealers, young and established.”

And besides the conventional pool of older, established collectors, who tend to be consistent in their tastes, Stockholm today is also characterized by young collectors more interested in the art itself than in theoretical and ideological discussions about it. Many of these collectors are tech entrepreneurs who are learning the ropes of the art world and how to be collectors.

Amy Giunta, co-founder of the Swedish American gallery Loyal, which she established in Stockholm in 2005 with her partner Martin Lilja, noted the recent interplay between galleries and newer, younger collectors interested in both Swedish and international art.

“Several Stockholm galleries showcase Swedish artists, but we’re seeing a shift with more new galleries displaying more artists from abroad than ever before,” Giunta said. “This aligns well with the Stockholm scene in general, which has always looked internationally for cultural influences.”

Long-standing galleries are also noticing the uptick in newer collectors. Darren Warner, co-founder of Larsen Warner, which opened in 1996, has maintained a dedicated group of Swedish collectors and seen a significant rise in international collectors—mainly from Asia, the U.S., and wider Europe—reflecting the gallery’s program evolution.

“For us, developing a Scandinavian market for many of the international artists we show is obviously important, but having the ability to also establish strong collector relationships globally alongside that, we believe, is an important continuing development for the gallery,” Warner said.

In tandem, several newer galleries are dedicated to promoting local emerging artists, such as ISSUES, which has evolved from a site-specific experimental platform to a white cube space. Speaking of today’s Stockholm collector scene, Oscar Carlson, director and owner, discussed an emerging perspective that likens collectors to artists.

“They also build their world with art, just with others’, and they have their own unique style built over time. I love it when I get in touch with a collector saying, ‘I think I got something for you,’ and they get twitchy with excitement,” Carlson said. Among younger collectors at ISSUES, “paintings by artists from their own generation are what they first look at, but I like to challenge them with sculptures, which they then also come back for,” he said.

The gathering of artistic expressions in Stockholm reveals a rapidly growing gallery scene committed both to being cutting-edge and to maintaining traditional Swedish inclusivity—an approach crucial in an area also characterized by wealth disparities and gentrification.