To the sea! The beach as borderland and summer dream

“To the Sea!” is now open at Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. It explores the rise of coastal and beach tourism from the 1870s to the mid-20th century, and how artists depicted life by the water. More than 200 works include paintings, photographs, advertising posters and historic swimwear, with art by Claude Monet, Anders Zorn, Sigrid Hjertén, Georgia O’Keeffe and others.

The exhibition follows seaside resorts as they grew along the coasts, and the artists drawn to them. It looks at the Skagen painters, the growing interest in sea bathing in the early 20th century, and later images of crowded beaches and the Swedish west coast. The beach also appears as a meeting point between holidaymakers and local communities, and, for Surrealists, as a boundary between waking life and dreams. The exhibition continues through 7 February 2027.