Sweden Guide
Gothenburg
Konstmuseum
Opening time: Tues & Thurs 11am–4pm, Wed 11am–9pm, Fri– Sun 11am–5pm
Price: 40kr
Website: www.konstmuseum.goteborg.se
The impressive Konstmuseum (Art Museum) has a massive, symmetrical facade reminiscent of 1930s Fascist architecture. One of the city's finest museums, it is easy to spend half a day absorbing the diverse and extensive collections. The Hasselblad Centre (www.hasselbladcenter.se) on the ground floor shows excellent changing photographic exhibitions, while upstairs there are postwar and contemporary Scandinavian paintings, a room full of French Impressionists, and a collection of Italian and Spanish paintings from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. Best of all, though, are the Fürstenburg Galleries on the sixth floor, which celebrate the work of some of Scandinavia's most prolific and revered artists from the early twentieth century. Well-known paintings by Anders Zorn and Carl Wilhelmson depict the seasons and landscapes of the Nordic countries and evoke a vivid picture of life a hundred years ago. Keep an eye out for Ernst Josephson's sensitive portraits and a couple of Hugo Birger paintings depicting the interior of the Fürstenburg Gallery. Also worth a look is the room of Carl Larsson's fantastical and bright wall-sized canvases.