Art News

Bernadottes on Show at Nationalmuseum

STOCKHOLM.- To mark the bicentennial of Karl XIV Johan’s selection as heir to the Swedish throne, Nationalmuseum presents an exhibition of black-and-white portraits of the House of Bernadotte. No other Swedes have been so prolifically portrayed as our royal family. Every day, we see the monarch’s portrait when we open the newspaper, pay for something or stick a stamp on a letter. The Bernadottes in Black and White presents familiar and unfamiliar depictions of royalty from Karl XIV Johan to his seventh-generation descendant, Crown Princess Victoria. The exhibition reveals some fascinating contrasts between official portraiture and artistic interpretation. The emphasis of the exhibition is on photography. The National Portrait Collection includes photographs of Bernadottes from the mid-19th century onward. These not only show what members of the Swedish royal family looked like; they also show how the art of portr