Yesterday lunchtime, we collected Evy and one of her friends and took them to the beautiful art gallery at Waldermarsudde on Djurgården to see an exhibition by the renowned 19th century Swedish-Finnish artist Albert Edelfelt. I have loved his work since I first saw them at the art gallery in Göteborg - in particular a magnificent painting of a girl and her father out on a small fishing boat (called "På Havet" or "On the Ocean", but I couldn't find a copy of it on the net). Lars-Göran's family come from the Österbotten region and as this was the area that Edelfelt recorded, I was sure it was an outing that Evy would enjoy.

Waldermarsudde was the home of Sweden's painter Prince Eugen (1865-1947) and he left it to the state, with the proviso that it be used to display his huge collection of Nordic art (including over a hundred paintings by Prince Eugen himself). It is beautifully situated on the waterway leading into town and is worth visiting on a sunny day just for the gardens and wonderful views across the water.



We have sailed past this spot several times on our way into Lake Mälaren as the waterway leads directly into the lock at Hammarby, separating the salty Baltic from the freshwater Mälaren.

Today, we were looking at it all from land. It was another sunny, crisp spring day as we made our way at snail's pace along Strandvägen to the island. Because we have a handicapped parking permit on the car, we were able to park in a sunny spot right by the door so it makes it easy to get Evy out of the car. The car is fitted with an electric lifting device, so we can lift her out of the front seat in a special harness and lower her into her wheelchair. Then it was off to the museum.

The lower level housed the Edelfelt exhibition. He had spent some time in Paris, so there were paintings from that period, many fine portraits of famous people like Louis Pasteur, several street scenes and family portraits.

The room I particularly loved was that containing his works from Finland. Works like I have here - the boys playing on the beach, summer scenes, views of the archipelago, of Helsinki and poignant portraits of the people who lived here. This was another of my favourites - "A Child's Funeral":



Apparently, this was commissioned by a collector in the U.S. It depicts these simple fishing folk, taking the coffin of a baby by boat to the church for burial. It is a very large painting, with such fantastic expressions on the faces of those grieving that I felt really sad standing there - as though I was intruding on their sorrow. It is very moving. However, the collector thought that the painting was too depressing, so the painter made another one (also exhibited nearby) with the coffin replaced by a big pot of flowers, the people dressed in cheerful colours and the mother holding her baby. This version was called "A Child's Christening" and the differences are quite striking.

Among the others, I also felt immense sadness looking at one painting of a girl, her young child and an older man who were hiding behind a snowy rock, clutching a few meagre possessions while in the distance we see soldiers burning down their village. This was part of a war in that region (Kubbekriget) that took place in the winter of 1596-97.

Another one I liked was this one of a group of women dressed in typical costumes of the later nineteenth century waiting and chatting at a summer festival in Österbotten.



We then went on a tour around the rest of the four floors. It was well serviced with a small lift that Lars-Göran an Evy used to get from floor to floor, while I took the red carpeted staircases with Evy's friend, feeling very regal. The main rooms on the next level were beautifully furnished (especially the "Blue Room") and offered breathtaking views over the city across the water. Everything glittered and shone in the afternoon sunlight. We all agreed that it was a perfect day for such an outing.

On the top floor, there was another exhibition called Three Sisters. The paintings were by three feminist artists - Swedish born Lena Cronqvist (born 1938), Finnish artist Outi Heiskanen (born 1937) och the Russian Irina Zatulovskaya (born 1954). I quite liked Zatulovskaya's paintings, but the other two left me cold. And I could tell that Evy was fonder of the art downstairs, so we only did a perfunctory tour of these upper floors.

Lovely afternoon and a beautiful setting. If you are in Stockholm, go along and take a look. The exhibition will be on until mid August.