Unspecified/General

On a headland at the end of the island of Djurgarden, with the water on three sides, stands Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, a former royal home turned art museum and one of the most appealing cultural destinations in Stockholm. The house belonged to Prince Eugen, a son of the Swedish king who broke with convention to become an accomplished landscape painter, and he commissioned the mansion in the early twentieth century from the architect Ferdinand Boberg, living there surrounded by his own canvases and the considerable art collection he built up over the years. When he died in 1947 the prince bequeathed the property, its art and its grounds to the people of Sweden, and it opened as a museum in 1948, kept largely as it had been in his day. Today visitors can admire the prince's evocative depictions of the Swedish countryside together with works by other artists of his time, shown in the rooms of the house and in an adjoining gallery, while the grounds contain an old windmill and his former studio. The gardens themselves, with their flowers, sculptures and broad views across the inlet, are a delight, and there is a much-frequented cafe. This blend of fine art, an intimate royal residence and a superb waterside setting gives the museum a special charm. The youngest son of King Oscar II, Prince Eugen turned away from the usual pursuits of a royal prince to devote himself to painting, studying in Paris and rising to become one of the most esteemed Swedish landscape artists of his time, celebrated for his moody, evocative renderings of the northern light, the forests and the sea. He built the house at Waldemarsudde as a home in which to live surrounded by art, and as a generous collector and patron of the artists of his era he assembled holdings that reach far beyond his own work to embrace a wide sweep of Nordic painting from the turn of the twentieth century. Within the mansion, the elegant rooms and the prince's pictures, hung as he himself placed them, conjure the refined world of a cultured royal, while a gallery added during his lifetime accommodates larger displays. The grounds, planted with flowers, dotted with sculptures by noted artists and graced by a preserved old windmill, fall away toward the shore and offer beautiful outlooks, lying open as a public park. With its well-liked cafe and its position at the very point of Djurgarden, within easy reach of the centre, the museum brings together art, history and the beauty of the waterside in a way few others in the city can match.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: 6 Prins Eugens Vag, Stockholm, Sweden

Website: https://www.waldemarsudde.se

Opening Date: 01/01/1948