Image: Thiel Gallery, Stockholm
Thielska Gallery in Stockholm is presenting ‘Hemsökelser’, an exhibition by the Swedish designers and artists Tom Hedqvist and Ingela Håkansson Lamm that brings newly made works into conversation with objects from the museum’s collection. The exhibition runs from 13 June to 20 September 2026 at the museum on Blockhusudden, Djurgården.
The project continues Thielska Gallery’s programme of inviting artists to illuminate the museum and its holdings from a contemporary perspective. Hedqvist and Håkansson Lamm were given broad freedom to select works and objects from the collection, which are displayed alongside pieces created specifically for the exhibition. The museum describes the presentation as an exploratory dialogue with history.
Both artists are co-founders of the influential Swedish design collective 10-gruppen and are associated with the development of textile art and pattern design in Sweden. Their shared background connects with Thielska Gallery’s longstanding interest in textile art, which has formed a recurring part of the institution’s exhibition history.
The exhibition’s title, ‘Hemsökelser’, has several implications in the museum’s account. It refers to the idea of a home being disrupted, as well as to the search for a home that may be new, lost or belong to someone else. That theme is developed through two distinct approaches. Håkansson Lamm has focused primarily on the museum’s furnishings, examining details in furniture and other elements from the building’s former domestic interior and reworking them in playful collages.
Hedqvist’s contribution is more directly tied to his personal history with the site. His father, the artist Tage Hedqvist, was an intendent at Thielska Gallery from 1961 to 1977, and the family lived in the staff residence that now houses the museum café. The exhibition also recalls a 1962 presentation by his father, based on a newly discovered folder containing around one hundred graphic works by Edvard Munch. Hedqvist’s encounter with Munch’s line and use of black has informed a series of abstract gouaches made for ‘Hemsökelser’. The exhibition includes Munch’s graphic prints selected by the artists, together with period furniture and interior details from the museum’s holdings.
Hedqvist, born in 1948, studied at Anders Beckman’s School and has worked across textile design, glass, education and museum leadership. His design work has included collections for Ikea and Svenskt Tenn, and he has served as artistic director at Orrefors, professor of graphic design at Konstfack, principal of Beckmans College of Design and director of the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg. Håkansson Lamm, born in 1944, studied at Konstfack and has designed textile and wallpaper patterns for Ikea, Duro and Borås Wäfveri, among others. Her work has also included large-scale public commissions in Stockholm.
A related artist talk will take place on 26 August 2026 from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Salongen at Thielska Gallery. Hedqvist and Håkansson Lamm will discuss the exhibition with Sophie Allgårdh, an intendent at the museum. Thielska Gallery, housed in the former residence built for banker and patron Ernest Thiel and his wife Signe Maria Thiel, is open Tuesday to Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.; on Thursdays from May through October, it remains open until 8 p.m.
