The journey begins at a train station in Paris. In one of his masterpieces, Claude Monet depicts the journey to the seaside resort and beach life. The locomotive huffs out steam and smoke. An impressionist haze hangs over the oil painting “Arrival of the Normandy Train,” which is featured in the new exhibition “To the Sea!”.
It is one of the works of art that Per Hedström thought was “impossible” to display, but which the Art Institute of Chicago agreed to lend.
"I am so incredibly happy and satisfied that we can show this art. It will never happen again," he tells TT.
The more than 200 works depict beach life and tourism from 1870 to the mid-20th century, how spending time by the sea developed into pleasure and pure recreation - and how it was portrayed in art.
There is incredibly fine art here, but the exhibition is also interesting from a cultural-historical perspective, says Per Hedström.
Striped swimwear
Films and photographs that depict the development of bathing life in various ways are also included in the exhibition. Glass cases show examples of what bathing fashion could have looked like: often striped and with lots of fabric.
Like Monet, many artists sought out seaside resorts both for their own pleasure and for the motifs.
The motifs from the beach and coast became very popular, which many artists took note of.
The exhibition also includes paintings by Anders Zorn, Sigrid Hjertén and Peder Severin Krøyer, who with his Skagen Light made the Danish resort a tourist magnet.
Cold bath in bright sunshine
There are also works of art here that exemplify the so-called vitalism, a rebellion against the “debased man” of modern society. Painters such as Eugène Jansson and JAG Acke depicted this ideal in strong, bright colors.
You should bathe naked in cold baths and in bright sunshine so that the body would become healthy and strong, says Per Hedström.
Parallel to the happy bright spots are more serious and dark aspects, such as the ideal of health and seaside life that Nazi Germany advocated through organizations such as Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy).
The exhibition also depicts the hard and risky life that the fishing population lived, alongside the sunbathing guests.
The exhibition "To the Sea!" runs until February 7th.
The exhibition "To the sea! The beach as a borderland and holiday dream" will be on display at the National Museum from September 24 to February 7, 2027.
More than 200 works are included in the form of paintings, photographs, advertising posters, films, etc. In addition to the museum's own rich collections, "exceptional" loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and The National Gallery in London are on display.
The exhibition is part of the Swedish Central Bank's Anniversary Fund's initiative to make the humanities and social sciences accessible to a wider audience.
Source: National Museum
