New Exhibition: Together
This year, the Thiel Gallery is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The centennial begins with Together, an exhibition to highlight the fact that the Thiel Gallery is the result of concerted efforts. This is true, of course, of its founders, Ernest and Signe Maria Thiel, who built one of Sweden’s most impressive art collections together, but also of the many artists they supported and whose works have shaped the Gallery. It also focuses on the venue itself; the Thiel Gallery immediately became a meeting place for the art scene of its day. Based on a few collaborations that exist in the building, the exhibition turns our attention to our own time, exploring how artists create together today, how artistic disciplines interact with each other and with other aspects of life.
The Together theme is present throughout the total work of art that is the Thiel Gallery. Many of the male artists that form the core of our art collection had life partners who were also artists, including Carl and Karin Larsson and Karl and Tekla Nordström. Another seminal couple were the first director of the Thiel Gallery, the author and art critic Tor Hedberg and the actor Stina Hedberg. The architect Ferdinand Boberg, who designed the building, was married to the artist Anna Boberg. This exhibition asks in what way these relationships have influenced the individual artists and the Gallery.
The Fjæstads ran their own company and had an unparallelled say on the Thiel Gallery interior. Gustaf and Maja, along with Gustaf’s siblings, are represented with several paintings, textiles and a suite of furniture. Their total design is a reminder of the interaction and collaboration of artists and art forms.
The word Together can also address how we organise ourselves. One group with a dominating presence in the Thiel Gallery collection is Konstnärsförbundet, a federation in which artists rallied around shared ideals. Here, we focus on their collective identity: how did they perceive and communicate their shared belonging?
100 years after the Thiel Gallery was founded, we note how similar collaborations are relevant to this day, even if the perspectives have shifted. Co-existing with nature has taken on new dimensions compared to when Ferdinand and Anna Boberg painted mountains and glaciers in northern Norway. What does it mean to create something together today? How does community influence artistic creativity? What does making site-specific works entail? How do we engage with the issue of working together, if we look beyond the interpersonal exchange?
To gain perspective on these questions, we have invited four contemporary artist duos: Bigert & Bergström, Linda Pedersen and Henning Hamilton, Bella Rune and Jonas Nobel, and Martin Bergström and Thomas Klementsson. These artists work (and some of them also live) together. They employ a wide range of styles and materials, in various forms of collaboration – with one another, with other people, and with their surroundings.
Exhibition dates 15 February–24 August 2025
