Sven-Harrys Art Museum at the edge of Vasaparken in Stockholm is a golden house filled with art, design and fashion. An experience in both form and content. It is called the Gold House after its gold-clad façade, is designed by Wingårdh Arkitektkontor and is one of Stockholm’s landmarks. Here exhibitions are made that have become well-known for their way of reflecting and challenging both our surrounding world and ourselves. Innovative and engaging. At the very top of the house there is a meticulously built copy of the founder Sven-Harry Karlssons former home Ekholmsnäs on Lidingö. The 18th-century manor is rebuilt with detailed precision, furnished with one of the Nordic region’s largest private art collections where great names such as Carl Fredrik Hill, Edvard Munch, Ernst Josephson, Helene Schjerfbeck, August Strindberg, Gio Ponti and Märta Måås-Fjetterström are included. On the roof there is a unique terrace with a view over Stockholm and a sculpture park with works by artists such as Olle Baertling, Marja Leena Sillanpää, Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd and Lena Cronqvist.
In spring 2026, Sven-Harry’s Art Museum dedicates an exhibition to The Family – For Better and for Worse. It is an exhibition about the family, what it means, and how it shapes us. No one stands untouched by the influence of family, whether we have one or not. The exhibition explores family relationships in art—both as foundation and abyss, as a place of safety and as a constant zone of conflict. It shows how artists throughout history have worked with the family as a theme, from historical masters to major contemporary names, as well as a new generation of artists.
The Family – For Better and for Worse is initiated by Dragana Kusoffsky Maksimović, director of Sven-Harry’s Art Museum, and curated in collaboration with art historian Magnus af Petersens. “We are making this exhibition because family shapes us more than anything else. It leaves lifelong marks on our lives and has influenced art throughout history. Our hope is that visitors from different generations will be able to see their own stories reflected in the works and perhaps discover new art they can relate to. Family is the story none of us can choose to opt out of — for better and for worse. That is precisely why this exhibition is so important for all of us—because art, as one of the most fundamental forces sustaining society, can provide comfort and be healing, while also reflecting the experiences, relationships, and life stages that shape us,” says Dragana Kusoffsky Maksimović.