Special Exhibits
Main Gallery
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For the Love of Color and LightArtwork by Pia Sjölin and Anders KnutssonOpen through Sunday, Sept. 14This exhibit features paintings by two contemporary Swedish artists who have immigrated to the United States. Scandinavians have developed a particular culture to express their feelings about light (and its absence) through old and new manifestations and rituals. In this exhibit, Sjölin and Knutsson combine this culture with influence from contemporary American works of art. Learn more about Anders Knutsson and Pia Sjölin.
Art prints and cards, featuring Pia's work, are for sale in the Museum Store.
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Home + Away / Hemma + BortaPhotographs by Allen WheatcroftFriday, Sept. 19 - Sunday, Nov. 30A portrait of everyday life in Sörmland, Sweden, and Chicago’s bustling Northside. Depicting Chicago’s Northside or Sweden’s Birch Road, Wheatcroft shows that a cold eye needn’t be cruel and a that a warm eye needn’t be wet, that sentiment can be controlled without being crushed, conveyed without being sappy. |
Raoul Wallenberg Gallery
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Swedes at the FairCurated by the Swedish American MuseumFriday, Aug. 8 - Sunday, Nov. 2Swedes at the Fair will highlight the Swedish American experience in Chicago at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, and ways in which Swedish cultural heritage was put on display through exhibits in the Swedish Pavilion, programming on “Sweden’s Day”, and more. Visitors will be provided with interesting insights into the Swedish immigrant community’s multifaceted entry into mainstream American life through this significant historical event.
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Andersonville Through the Ages
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Sponsored by the Lind Family and Created in Collaboration with the DePaul History 391 Class of Spring 2020In The Lind Room on the Museum's second floor, the Andersonville Through the Ages exhibit showcases how Andersonville became and remained an area rich in Swedish heritage. It illustrates how Andersonville has evolved over the years to incorporate contemporary tastes and hold new community celebrations, all the while holding onto its Swedish character. |
Traveling Exhibit: Available for Loan
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An Ocean Apart: Swedish Immigrant LettersBy the Swedish American MuseumSponsored by the Swedish Council of America More than one million Swedes left their homeland between 1850 and 1930. Though they left their home country behind for opportunities abroad, many continued to keep close ties to their family and friends back in Sweden. Often these ties took the form of personal letters written to and from Sweden between parents, children, friends, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles all separated by an ocean, but still able to share their lives with one another. Few historical texts are as interesting and compelling as personal letters. They offer an insight into the lives of early 20th century Swedish immigrants and reveal how they shared many of the same kinds of hopes, interests and even humor that we have today. The letters also give us a look into the past from personal and individual points of view. These personal accounts detail the lives of those on both sides of immigration including those who left and those who remained in Sweden. Many of the letters in collection of the Swedish American Museum were written to the immigrants here in the U.S. from friends and family back in Sweden. The letters are a peek into the lives of their writers and receivers from how the crops were doing that year to news about marriages, births and—of course—who else was beginning to feel the pull of “America Fever.” This exhibition contains a selection of stories pulled from the hundreds of letters in the collection of the Swedish American Museum. Discover the world of Swedish immigrants to the United States Midwest, as told by those who lived it. Exhibition Materials: If you are interested, please contact Sarah Hawkinson, Curator, at shawkinson@samac.org
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Please note that at times we use exhibit spaces for events during Museum hours and viewing can be limited.
All of our exhibits are wheelchair accessible.
Sponsors of our Temporary Exhibits:
