Salla VartiainenStockholm is a small “big”-city and it is not super big in terms of art-happenings or galleries. Sure we have our fair share of exhibitions but it´s not like London, which has like thousands of art venues with different things happening every week (which triggered my FOMO so much haha).
One fun thing though, that happens annually, is the Spring Salon!
Is this the work of Katharina Grosses religious little brother? I thought to my self, when I saw the work of Stefan Johansson
What is the Spring Salon exhibition?
The salon has a 100+ year old history and most Swedish artists have been rejected by the salon at least once. Every year thousands of people apply to be part of the exhibition but only a few hundred are chosen. The fun thing is that anyone can apply! You don´t actually have to be artist, you just have to have a work of art to apply with. And the quality of the chosen works tend to be quite good even though not everyone applying is a full-time artist.
This work by My Maanmies had a very interesting structure
All the art is submitted anonymously so the Jury doesn´t know who they are choosing.
This usually results in a fun and diverse exhibition that shows a cross-section of what’s going on in the country in terms of art.
The exhibition is usually on display around 2 months from february to april.
A cropped photo of Maria Erlingssons syringe-mandala that explored IVF
How to get to Liljevalchs Spring Salon and tickets
The museum is located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm and the best way to get here is to take tram number 7 from T-centralen and get off at the station “Liljevalchs/ Gröna lund”. You can also take a boat here from Slussen but then you have to walk 5 minutes.
A regular ticket costs 160 kr (around 15 euro) at the time being (year 2025) and the museum is open 11-17 every day except on tuesdays and thursdays when they close 20.00.
It may be a good idea to try to come here mid week in the middle of the exhibition. Otherwise there can be a lot of other visitors everywhere!
Best of Spring Salon 2025
I usually try to see the exhibition at least once every year. It´s a good way to see what is going on in the minds of artsy people through out Sweden. Often you can discern a theme, fex that everyone is submitting textiles one year and video works the next. This could of course also be an effect of the annually changed jury and their preferences.
The politics always reflect in art, as they should. So also in this piece by Vanja Hamdal
This year I was not really wow-ed by the exhibition, actually I was more wow-ed by Strindbergs carpet when I saw it the other day, but it was interesting, as usual, to see all the different materials, thoughts and executions.
These works by Erika Emerén were my favorite textile works in the exhibition. I like these creatures and kind of want to hang out with them.
My favorite this year was Erika Emérens textile works and Åsa Elmstams “Swedish forrest policy II”. Elmstams work draws attention to how corrupt the politics are around Swedens forrests. Only 2% of the forrests remains untouched! This affects the biodiversity and the delicate balance of the forrests ecosystem. The work is made of wooden intarsia, often used in antique high quality furniture, and depicts Swedish banknotes. Unfortunatelly I did only take blurry pictures of Åsa Elmstams piece!
xoxo/Salla V