Renovated exhibition spaces, better accessibility, larger and safer areas for handling artworks – and an updated climate control system with the right temperature, humidity, and lighting. After 2.5 years of renovation, the Mjellby Art Museum in Halmstad is better equipped to receive both visitors and art.
Now we have premises with a safe climate and a safe environment. I would say that our museum is top-class in Sweden when it comes to safe conditions for art, says Lena From.
Can borrow in works
The museum is home to around 500 works of art from the Halmstad Group, which have now returned home and can be better cared for and managed.
We also get much better opportunities to borrow works from other museums and show them here, says Lena From.
Just in time for the opening, the museum has also received a deposit of works by the artist Thea Ekström. She was a younger heir to the Halmstad Group, who found her own expression and had her public breakthrough in the 1960s. Since then, she has fallen somewhat into oblivion, according to Lena From.
But now we have the opportunity to show her painting with full force. And very many works that previously never met a public because they were in family ownership.
Dreams of a residence
The museum plays an important role, thinks From. Partly, there is a local historical value in being able to manage the influential Halmstad Group's heritage in its hometown. Partly, art is a national concern. They also play an important role as the Nordic region's only surrealist museum, she thinks.
Our dream is to eventually have an artist residence with us for research on surrealism and for artists who are interested in surrealism or who are generally curious about the Halmstad Group and Thea Ekström.
Manages an extensive collection of artworks from the Halmstad Group, which consisted of the artists Sven Jonsson, Waldemar Lorentzon, Stellan Mörner, Axel Olson, Erik Olson, and Esaias Thorén.
They are primarily known for their pioneering efforts in Swedish art in the 1920s and 1930s, including introducing surrealism in Sweden. The museum was founded by Viveca Bosson, daughter of the painter Erik Olson.
Opens again with three exhibitions:
Several works by Thea Ekström, where the architect Petra Gipp has been invited to design the exhibition of Ekström's art, which was often painted on masonite boards.
A selection of art from the Halmstad Group, where children aged 9-10 have been involved in influencing how it is displayed. It became a "colorful and labyrinthine" exhibition that also has a "Youtube booth" where visitors can film themselves and be projected onto the exhibition.
A collaboration with the art residence Art Inside Out, which has resulted in a performance by the artist Ingela Ihrman and a wall drawing directly on the museum's new facade by the artist Muhammad Ali.
