In 1988-89 an exhibition was held about the work of the Jewish Drama Amateur Society, founded in 1917 by Jewish immigrants from Russia, who settled on the southern island of Stockholm.
"Glimpses of Jewish life in Sweden" in 1989-90 and again in 1992 was a photo exhibition consisting of pictures covering over 200 years of various Jewish life in Sweden.
In 1990-91 the Nobel Prize winner Nelly Sachs was presented at the museum. In 1991 the exhibition "Geskel Saloman - a Jewish artist (1821-1902)" covered the life story and the work of the originally Danish Jewish artist and painter Geskel Saloman, who settled in Sweden and eventually became famous.
In 1993-94, during the winter and spring, a succesful exhibition "Portraits - reflections of Swedish Jewish Culture" - about some Jewish families who were great contributors to both Swedish and Jewish culture, art, trade etc - was held in our museum. It was followed later on in 1994 by a special exhibiton consisting of photographs by the famous Swedish-Jewish lady photographer, Anna Riwkin.
Then textiles with Jewish motifs as well as handicraft and embroidery made by the Swedish Jews were presented in an exhibition 1994-95.
The exhibition "50 years after the Holocaust" opened in April 1995 and lasted throughout the winter of 1996. We focused on a few persons´ struggle to survive through this difficult time in the past and then how these experiences have affected their lives today.
A special exhibition "Jewish pedlars in Sweden" - different aspects of their lives from around 1780 until the time of the second world war - was opened in april 1996 and lasted until January 1997.
The exhibition "Biblical la carte - the joys of feast and food" was shown in our museum from February until December 1997.
The exhibition "Jewish Stockholm" , showing different aspects of Jewish life in the city of Stockholm, was shown in our museum. The exhibition opened in March 1998 and closed in August 1999.
The exhibition "In the Shadow of War: Sweden´s Jews 1933-1945" was shown October 1999 until August 2000. It focused on the situation of Sweden´s Jews during 1933-1945. What was it like for Jews in the neutral and free Sweden and for those in the occupied Europe? The premise of the exhibition was to try to experientially explain a non-explainable period in our recent history.
The exhibition "Isaac Grünewald - scenographer, artist and person" (October 2000 - August 2001) presented the famous Swedish Jewish artist Isaac Grünewald (1889-1946), pupil of Matisse. Unique paintings and outlines of scenography were shown in a beautiful setting.
Andy Warhol´s "Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century" (September 23 - December 31, 2001) visualized great Jewish personalities of the twentieth century: Sarah Bernhardt, Louis Brandeis, Martin Buber, the Marx Brothers, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, George Gershwin, Franz Kafka, Golda Meir and Gertrude Stein.
The silk screen images with large colour-shapes and Warhol´s pencil lines do not fit the contours of the faces. Therefore the images almost seem to be lit by lightnings. Each person becomes a "super star" of the twentieth century.
During the guided tours of the exhibition the Jewish Museum in Stockholm focused on the person behind the portrait. Who was Martin Buber? Where did he come from? How did his Jewish background effect his life and achievements?
Bernard Sidi. "Interpretations of Sefer Yetzirah"
January 7 - February 28, 2002
Sefer Yetzirah (the Book of Creation) is the oldest and most mysterious of all existing Kabbalistic books.
Kabbalistic art that blasts the frames!
Maybe Bernard Sidi is the Chagall of our times? For the very first time Bernard Sidi exposes his personal inpretations of the Book of Creation, Sefer Yetzirah.
The main object of the exhibition is to show how religion can inspire an artist and how conflicts and paradoxes in Judaism can be expressed in art. Bernard Sidi interprets the chapters of Sefer Yetzirah with an exuberant imagination, the pictures are full patterns, animals, forms and colours. Sidi´s pictures conceal a deep understanding and knowledge of the classical Jewish texts.
Who is Bernard Sidi?
Bernard Sidi was born in 1936 in Paris. He experienced the Nazi occupation, lived in Israel as a teenager, came back to France, raised a family and fought in the Algerian War. Today the Bernard Sidi lives in Israel in Ein Karem near Jerusalem.
KABBALAH - exhibition
April 7 - December 31, 2002.
Kabbalah is Jewish mysticism.
The Jewish Museum in Stockholm presented an exhibition about Kabbalah. Jewish mysticism has influenced Christian and Muslim cultural traditions for over one thousand years.
Unfortunately many kabbalistic teachings of today are far from what Kabbalah really is about.
The great challenge for the Jewish Museum in Stockholm was to present the essence of Kabbalah.
The light had an important signification in the exhibition, which contained unique manuscripts, contemporary kabbalistic art and Jewish ritual objects.
In the catalogue, which is in both Swedish and English, you can read many essays on Kabbalah and see beautiful pictures of objects from the Kabbalah exhibition.
Many interesting lectures on Kabbalah were given during the exhibition period.
No previous knowledge of Kabbalah was required for the exhibition. Information was available in English.
Kabbalah became an exciting exhibition with a scent of cinnamon and mysticism!
Erika Aronowitsch
Director
THE TABERNACLE
January 12 - February 16, 2003
Laura Fahlsten had interpreted the artistic expression and construction of the Tabernacle according to the description given in Exodus of the Jewish Bible.
"AT OUR ANCESTOR'S SIDE"
March 2 - August 31, 2003
In the exhibition "At Our Ancestor's Side" the Jewish Museum in Stockholm described death and mourning in Judaism as well as the holy and voluntary work of the burial society, Chevra Kadisha.
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The exhibition presented a Jewish traditional home sometimes during the early 19th century, when the two first Jewish cemeteries in Stockholm, Aronsberg and Kronoberg were in use.
The major part of the exhibition "At Our Ancestor's Side" described the two cemeteries Aronsberg and Kronoberg. The Jewish Museum in Stockholm was offered a unique opportunity to exhibit four preserved gravestones, before these were returned to the cemeteries.
Each gravestone is individually formed with a beautiful poetic tribute to the deceased. As the two cemeteries, Aronsberg and Kronoberg, are closed for the Swedish public it was a great pleasure for the Jewish Museum in Stockholm to present this significant and unique exhibition, "At Our Ancestor's Side".
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Yvonne Jacobsson
Director
More about the cemeteries of Aronsberg and Kronoberg >>
"SIX NAKED JEWS"
October 15, 2003 - January 6, 2004
Jews are often cited as an example of a minority that has not been assimilated in spite of having been present in Europe for about 2000 years and in Sweden for 225 or so. But do Jews want to be integrated? And how do they perceive "the Swedes"? As well as other minorities and immigrants? How, indeed, do they see themselves?
In the exhibition "Six naked Jews" we could listen to six fictitious voices talking about things that are never normally discussed in public.
The texts were written by journalist Ricki Neuman and copywriter Lars Nornn was responsible for the artistic design. Producer Yvonne Rock also took part in the discussions that led up to the exhibition. "Six naked Jews" gave rise to many powerful emotions. The museum's doors were opened onto a daring contemporary exhibition about the Jewish identity in Sweden; an installation that showed how delicate the balance is between adaptation and self-assertion!
Yvonne Jacobsson
Director
More about the exhibition ;»
RAOUL WALLENBERG - one man can make a difference
January 25 - December 30, 2004
Get the catalogue as pdf-file (1,9 MB) >>
Exhibition pictures >>
SVERIGE, SVERIGE FOSTERLAND
(Sweden, Sweden, our native land)
January 16 - March 31,2005
With this exhibition the Jewish Museum in Stockholm sought to illustrate how complex and enriching dual identity can be in Sweden today. The museum invited a number of young Swedish-Jewish authors and artists to give a portrait of their dual cultural identities using the Swedish flag and the national anthem as a starting point. All the participating artists were given full freedom to develop their ideas. This resulted in a very varied and challenging exhibition about young Swedish-Jewish identity. The works differed widely both as to means of expression and content, reflecting the very different attitudes to being Swedish and Jewish respectively.
Here are the views of some of the nine participating artists and authors.
Ida Strasser:I saw before me a typical Swedish tablecloth a tablecloth with the very suitable name 'Madicken' (Astrid Lindgren), purchased at the Å:hléns store - spotted with Jewish food. Like me...
Michaela Agoston:my Jewish experience tells me that nothing that has to do with land or country lasts for ever& and that we should not be surprised if we are hunted from the place that we call home...
Hanna Lindroth:for me Judaism is a gigantic table for discussion and noise and Swedish culture I generally summarize as a common lack of community...
Stephan Mendel-Enk: in the Jewish world in which I grew up there were never any other attitudes to the country we were living in than massive criticism and deep suspicion. The lamentable Swedes with their anti-Semitic news programmes.
Fanny Sdderbcck: both Jewish and Swedish. Neither Jewish nor Swedish. My dual identity is a dual alienation. Is dual identity no identity? Two half identities?
STERNVERDUNKELUNG
Lotte Laserstein and Nelly Sachs
- On living in exile.
April 17 - August 31, 2005.
THE JEWISH NATIONAL MINORITY IN SWEDEN
April 20 - November 20, 2005.
Our exhibition "The Jewish National Minority in Sweden" narrates the history of the Swedish Jews. This new exhibition, shown in specially constructed interactive display units, sheds a personal light on the historical facts.
NEIGHBOURING NATIONS – saving the lives of Norwegian and Danish Jews
October 10, 2005 - March 31, 2006.
This was an inspiring exhibition that showed how numerous courageous people helped to save persecuted Jews in neighbouring Norway and Denmark.
The exhibition illustrated the dramatic events of November 1942 and October 1943 when Jews from Norway and Denmark managed to escape to Sweden.
EXODUS – message and traditions of the Jewish Passover
April 26 - November 12, 2006.
The Jewish Passover, or pesach as it is called in Hebrew, celebrates the memory of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt.
This creation story of a nation has inspired Jews in a fundamental way from generation to generation for more than two thousand years.
No other biblical story has inspired political and social movements to the same extent as Exodus. And so we have sought to give visitors a more universal and complex understanding of the story of the exodus from Egypt.
The Exodus narrative also contains numerous contemporary perspectives that can become the starting point for much interesting discussion.
LIVING IN TWO WORLDS
November 27, 2006 - January 29, 2007.
Is it possible to order pizza if you keep koscher? What does the home look lika where a young Rom lives? A young Sami, what is he dreaming of? Young Roma, Sami och Jews tell how it can be an asset to have access to two worlds.
The traveling exhibition contains the youngster's mutual, but still different experiences. In co-operation with Riksutställningar - Swedish Travelling Exhibitions, The Sami Information Centre and Malmö Museums. With support from The Foundation for the Culture of the Future and The Swedish Arts Council
JERUSALEM – THERE AND BACK
Paintings by Swedish and Israeli Children
February 9 - March 8, 2007.
"Loving Jerusalem"
Swedish children imagine the Holy City 2005
Children from Jerusalem portray Sweden 2006-2007
Gunilla Håkansson is a writer and artist in many fields. For children in Sweden she has portrayed the Holy City of Jerusalem in words, photos, drawings, music and puppet theatre.
Forty-two children aged 6-9 from southern Sweden took part in an art course and produced pictures of Jerusalem as they imagined it based on the Prophet Zachariah's claim that Jerusalem is a fountain for all peoples.
Following an official request from Sweden for collaboration, the Municipality of Jerusalem, through its art gallery, informed a number of craftspeople in Jerusalem about the project. This resulted in numerous Israeli children being inspired by narratives and photographs of Sweden and then painting colourful pictures full of love and joy.
The Swedish and Israeli children, who are separated by a large geographical distance, succeeded in bridging the differences of culture, climate, history, language and religion to create close contacts. They have established warm bands of friendship and in their paintings they give expression to joint visions for the future.
Yvonne Jacobsson
Director
JOSEF FRANK - architect and outsider
March 29 - October 15, 2007.
The Jewish Museum in Stockholm would not have been able to present the exhibition, "Josef Frank - architect and
outsider", without the help of the exhibition team, comprising the following menmbers, with their individual
skills and approaches to the theme of the exhibit:
Miriam Andersson Blecher, curator; Hedvig Hedqvist, writer and researcher, who has contributed exhibition and catalogue texts; Gabriel Herdevall, architect abd exhibit designer; Gunilla Nordström, archivist at Svenskt Tenn and Yvonne Sörensen Björud, former managing director at Svenskt Tenn.
I would very much like to thank the above as well as the following: Fredric Bedoire, Professor of Achitectural history, and Marie Birde who has contributed exhibition and catalogue texts; Monica Nagler and Barbro Osher, for their active and stauch support; Jan Herdevall, who has produced audio-visuals and ligting for the exhibit; Karl Gabor, for the design and layout of this catalogue and Lars Norén, who has edited and translated the catalogue material.
I would also like to thank the Austrian ambassador in Sweden, Dr. Stephan Toth, for his piece on Frank and for taking a great personal interest and supporting the production of this exhibition.
Last but not least I would like to thank Kjell and Märta Beijer's Foundation, Eva Bonnier, Monica and Gerald Nagler, The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, Sparbanksstiftelsen Första (Swedish savings bank foundation), the Austrian Embassy for generously contributing to the production of the exhibit - and Stiftelsen Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation), which has provided liberally towards the production of the catalogue.
Yvonne Jacobsson
Museum Director
Fürstenberg in town...?!
November 29, 2007 - March 16, 2008.
A unique visit by the finest collection in Sweden of late 19th century and early 20th century art from the
Gothenburg Art Museum
1968
March 31 - October 15, 2008.
The year 1968 changed the world. This mythical year when "everything happened"
has a romantic glow, but the truth is that 1968 was a very dramatic year in both
West and East.
The Year 2058 - where do we come from? Where are we going?
October 27, 2008 - March 15, 2009.
“The Year 2058” is an exception.
Up to now, exhibitions at the museum have dealt with the past or with
contemporary issues. But there has been no exhibition dealing specifically
with the future. Yet the future is just as important in that it is open to
our influence.
Jewish Voices
In our exhibition entitled Jewish Voices narratives from nowhere reach the visitor almost as though by accident.
The Jewish Museum in Stockholm is limited for space. Happily, it has been possible to install Jewish Voices in parts of the premises that are normally too small to house exhibitions.
Cher Monsieur - My Fatal Lady
March 30 - October 18, 2009.
At the “Cher Monsieur – My Fatal Lady” exhibition at the Jewish Museum, the focus is on Georg and Hanna Pauli. The story of how the artists met and became a couple is a tale of many exciting and romantic moments, but also of a few seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Mago: style icon of the Swedish stage
November 1, 2009 - September 15, 2010.
"Mago: style icon of the Swedish stage" is Sweden’s first retrospective exhibition showcasing Mago’s great contribution to the country’s film and theatre scene. Mago, who was born in Berlin as Max Goldstein, collaborated with all the greats – from variety show king Karl Gerhard to film maestro Ingmar Bergman. Not many Swedes, however, are aware of his background and family history.