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Norway

Queen Sonja opens new exhibition in Queen Sonja’s Art Stable

After being closed for a few weeks, Queen Sonja’s Art Stable in Oslo is now open again with a brand new exhibition. It was Her Majesty The Queen who opened the brand new show on Thursday evening. During the summer, visitors could see the Norwegian national costumes which are privately owned by the members of the Royal Family. Now a new and more modern exhibition has taken over the old stable buildings. The new exhibition is named “Tone Vigeland, Jewelery and Sculpture”.

Tone Vigeland is an internationally recognised pioneer in jewellery design, which in the 90’s moved on to create sculptures. Metal is her favourite material, and the works combine the hard material with soft shapes and different textures. The exhibition shows jewellery from the period 1956 to 1998 and sculptures from 1998 to today.

Her Majesty Queen Sonja opened the Tone Vigeland exhibition at the Queens Art Stable today. Photo: Oskar Aanmoen / Royal Central.

Tone Vigeland’s career extends over 60 years, and in the 50’s she became one of the pioneers in the renewal of Norwegian goldsmiths. Soon she became known outside the country’s borders through the use of new materials and groundbreaking shapes. She became an important part of “Scandinavian Design”, and the start of a new era in Norwegian and Scandinavian jewellery design.

The exhibition is created in collaboration with Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum in Munich, which showed some of the same pieces in 2017. Her Majesty Queen was the protector of this exhibition, which was named one of the best exhibitions in Germany in 2017. Vigeland is the first Scandinavian jewellery artist who has been honoured with an exhibition in the prestigious German Museum. The exhibition in Queen Sonja Art Stable has significantly expanded with sculptures that have been borrowed from the National Museum, CODE and private collectors.


Queen Sonja together with the artist Tone Vigeland. Photo: Oskar Aanmoen / Royal Central.

The press was invited to see the exhibition on Tuesday and Royal Central’s Senior Europe correspondent Oskar Aanmoen was present. He describes the exhibition: “Now the art stable is completely different. Going from a colourful and almost a little crowded hall, to something very minimalistic. This transition is exciting and shows how versatile the stables are as both a gallery and a kind of museum. The exhibition reflects a more than 50-year long career and you can see the artist’s development in an exciting way. If you like modern art, this is a great display, although it may not be exactly the thing you would expect when visiting a royal gallery.”

The new exhibition will be on display untill the end of November.

A happy Queen in his Vigeland jewellery from her personal collection. Photo: Oskar Aanmoen / Royal Central.

“Queen Sonja’s Art Stable” was opened last summer on Queen Sonja’s 80th birthday. This gallery is located in the old stable buildings in the Palace Park, and that has never been accessible to the public before. From now on, the building will be a new arena for art, culture and history in Oslo and is worth a visit by those in the city.

It will contain various exhibitions. The previous exhibit was dedicated to Queen Maud of Norway’s photographs and Norwegian graphics. The now-ended winter exhibition was dedicated to the Norwegian Royal Family’s use of horses through the last 100 years. The stable that now houses Queen Sonja’s galleries was completed in 1848 and was used as a stable for the royal horses until 1940.

About author

Senior Europe Correspondent Oskar Aanmoen has a master in military and political history of the Nordic countries. He has written six books on historical subjects and more than 1.500 articles for Royal Central. He has also interview both Serbian and Norwegian royals. Aanmoen is based in Oslo, Norway.