Temporary Exhibits
Main Gallery: Radically Marimekko
Curated by the American Swedish Historical Museum
Open Through Sunday, Dec. 1
For over 70 years, Marimekko has infused art into everyday patterns. Led by Finnish women designers and innovators, Marimekko has blurred the lines between fine and decorative arts. Radically Marimekko traces the brand’s path from industrial art house to its present-day status as a fashion icon. Shop for Marimekko items in the Museum Store!
Raoul Wallenberg Gallery: The Art of Fika
Watercolors By Jan Padover
Open Through Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025
What is fika and why is it so popular amongst Swedes? This exhibit dives into the history of fika and displays Jan Padover's watercolors of popular Swedish fika treats.
Opening Soon in the Main Gallery: Painted Bonader
The Museum's Annual Holiday Exhibit
Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024 - Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025
This annual holiday exhibit displays artwork dating back to the 19th century. Bonader is an example of Scandinavian folk art that was used to decorate Swedish homes at Christmastime and on feast days. Contemporary folk art is displayed in addition to historic folk art, showing how the art form has grown. Donated to the Museum in 2000 by the Art Institute of Chicago, the 29 Bonader represent the eighth largest known collection. They originated in 1931 among acquisitions from world traveler Florence Dibell Bartlett of Chicago. Inspired by what she viewed as a decline in the creation of folk art, Bartlett acquired pieces she found in 37 countries. She was the founder in 1953 of the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Remembering A Recent Exhibit: The Last Swedes: Half-Century Old Photographs of Swedish-Americans in Brooklyn, NY
By Per-Olof Odman
This recently-closed and highly popular photography exhibit by Per-Olof Odman featured Swedish-Americans living in Brooklyn, NY in 1974. Through his photos, Odman captured the last remaining residents of a once bustling Swedish neighborhood of Bay Ridge. Never having been shown in the U.S., this exhibit invited visitors to draw parallels between Bay Ridge and Andersonville and to notice differences between the two historic Swedish neighborhoods.
Andersonville Through the Ages
Sponsored by the Lind Family and Created in Collaboration with the DePaul History 391 Class of Spring 2020
In The Lind Room on the Museum's second floor, the Andersonville Through the Ages exhibit showcases how Andersonville became and remained an area rich in Swedish heritage. It illustrates how Andersonville has evolved over the years to incorporate contemporary tastes and hold new community celebrations, all the while holding onto its Swedish character.
New to the Permanent Collection and Art Highlights
Explore select recent acquisitions to the Swedish American Museum's permanent collection in this display located on the second floor, next to the Lind Room. You can view these and more items from our permanent collection on our CatalogIt hub. Also on the second floor, you'll find a wall of rotating artwork from our collection. Currently featured is needlepoint art. You can also learn about Raoul Wallenberg, the individual after whom the second floor temporary exhibits gallery is named.
Traveling Exhibit: Available for Loan
An Ocean Apart: Swedish Immigrant Letters
By the Swedish American Museum
Sponsored by the Swedish Council of America
More than one million Swedes left their homeland between 1850 and 1930. Though they left their home country behind for opportunities abroad, many continued to keep close ties to their family and friends back in Sweden. Often these ties took the form of personal letters written to and from Sweden between parents, children, friends, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles all separated by an ocean, but still able to share their lives with one another. Few historical texts are as interesting and compelling as personal letters. They offer an insight into the lives of early 20th century Swedish immigrants and reveal how they shared many of the same kinds of hopes, interests and even humor that we have today. The letters also give us a look into the past from personal and individual points of view.
These personal accounts detail the lives of those on both sides of immigration including those who left and those who remained in Sweden. Many of the letters in collection of the Swedish American Museum were written to the immigrants here in the U.S. from friends and family back in Sweden. The letters are a peek into the lives of their writers and receivers from how the crops were doing that year to news about marriages, births and—of course—who else was beginning to feel the pull of “America Fever.” This exhibition contains a selection of stories pulled from the hundreds of letters in the collection of the Swedish American Museum. Discover the world of Swedish immigrants to the United States Midwest, as told by those who lived it.
Exhibition Materials:
• 5 retractable banners
• 34” (W) x 7’ (L)
If you are interested, please contact Phoebe Yates, Curator, at pyates@samac.org
All of our exhibits are wheelchair accessible.
Sponsors of our Temporary Exhibits:
