King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden have attended the “Artists Friends” annual meeting at Prince Eugene’s villa at Waldemarsudde, commemorating a royal who had a major impact in his country’s arts.
The royal couple were welcomed by Hans Dyhlén, chairman of Waldemarsudde’s friends’ association and Karin Sidén, superintendent and museum director at Waldemarsudde. Upon arrival at Waldemarsudde, the King and Queen visited Prince Eugene’s tomb to lay flowers. Afterwards, they attended the association’s annual celebration in the Great Gallery Hall of the former royal residence.
During the evening, two scholarships were awarded by the King. Carina Rech, curator of Waldemarsudde’s collections, received a scholarship from Waldemarsudde’s Friends’ Association for her research on female artists. Sophia Artin received the Renaissance scholarship and the Humanities Culture Prize 2021 for her many years of work with the theatre “Galeasen”. The Culture Prize is awarded annually with the intention of promoting, supporting and encouraging work in the humanities and arts in Sweden.
The villa, Waldemarsudde, was originally the residence of Prince Eugene and is today one of Sweden’s most well-visited art museums with both varied and extensive exhibition and program activities.
Prince Eugene was one of the foremost landscape painters of his time and a significant art collector with a focus mainly on Swedish, other Nordic and French artists. The collections of around 7,000 works include visual arts, sculpture and arts and crafts. The Prince’s party room and park are always available for visitors.
The Swedish Prince Eugene Napoleon Nikolaus was born 1 August 1865 at Drottningholm Castle and died on 17 August 1947 at Waldemarsudde. He was a Swedish prince and Duke of Närke his whole life, from 1865 to 1905 he was also Prince of Norway. He was the youngest son of King Oscar II and Sofia of Nassau and brother of King Gustaf V. “Artists friends” was founded in 1937 and Prince Eugene was permanent chairman until his death.
