Fotografiska Photography Museum in Stockholm

When looking up things to do in Stockholm I was amazed to learn there was an internationally famous photography museum called Fotografksia close to the city center. I have had a passion for photography since my first dark room class in 8th grade so when I found there was an entire museum devoted to it, it made the top of my list.  Fotografksia is known for it’s rotating exhibits and while I was there there were four presentations and I made sure to see them all! 

The first was the Like a Horse presentation which I thought it would be weird but ended up being my second favorite but then again its hard not to be when the first to photos that catch your eye is a photo of Patrick Swayze shot by Herb Ritts in 1987 and then Johnny Depp in 1999 shot by Mary Elon Mark while filming Sleepy Hallow in England.  Swoon worthy.  The largest exhibit of the four had many more photos than jus those two good looking men.  Take a look at my favorite shots of the exhibit and since it’s two small to read I will summarize the first, Horses are very important in Sweden and there are more than 360,000 horses in a country of less than 10 million people. 

The second exhibit I saw at Fotografiska was the Irving Penn Resonance, a collection of photographs from the Pinault Collection which will be displayed through October.  Penn’s work is certainly well renowned and not only were the photographs beautifully displayed but the Fotografiska exhibit was very well laid out with photographs in nine different themes from high fashion to deceased animals to celebrity imposters. It also got me very excited for New York Fashion Week next month – I can not believe it will be here in only a few weeks!

The third was distributing, it was called What’s on the Plate.  Distributing in that even from the entry collage I did not want to go in but it is one of those things that shows just how storng the power of photography can be and really highlighted some of the most dire foot shortages in the world – particularly those in Sub-Saharahn Africa.  There were quite a few strong and even gruesome photos which I will avoid sharing but here are a handful to ensrue you get the picture, litearlly and figurately. 

The fourth and last was the Berning and Di Battista Confluence which was definitely the most interest, creative, and avant-garde.  It was the only exhibit that had photos altered outside of the normal state but also contained the photos I could see in a Soho gallery going for tens of thousands of dollars. Here were a few of my favorites so you can get the feeling: 

I left feeling inspired and the glass of rosé on the rooftop didn’t hurt along with a bit of fun in the Fotografiska photobooth! 

For anyone visiting Stockholm, I highly recommend paying the Fotografiska Museum a visit!