From the cobbled streets of Södermalm, filled with trendy shops and busy bars, to the island of Värmdö, Stockholm’s art ecosystem – once slightly overshadowed by the city’s design and music scenes – has cemented its place on the international stage. Supported by public institutions and private museums that house vast international art collections, alongside galleries and artist-led projects, the city’s infrastructure and unusual setting – it is spread across hundreds of tiny islands on Sweden’s southeastern coast – allow the contemporary art scene to flourish in a truly unique way.

Moderna Museet has been at the center of Swedish contemporary art since its opening in 1958 on the islet of Skeppsholmen. With an excellent permanent collection that includes Marcel Duchamp, Hilma af Klint, Louise Bourgeois, Dorothea Tanning, and Tora Vega Holmström, and a strong focus on feminist and conceptual art, it remains a benchmark for Scandinavian institutions. Recent exhibitions include retrospectives of Nan Goldin, Isaac Julien, and the Swedish artist and activist Siri Derkert. Current exhibitions include ‘Ghost and Spirit’, a retrospective of the late US conceptual artist Mike Kelley, traveling from Tate Modern (until October 12, 2025), while an exhibition on Britta Marakatt-Labba, whose work highlights Sámi culture, opens later this summer (June 14 to November 9, 2025).

A short boat trip across the water is Fotografiska, Stockholm’s major photography museum, housed in a red-brick Art Nouveau former customs house. Since opening in 2010, Fotografiska has expanded its reach globally with sister venues in Berlin, Tallinn, and New York. The museum leans into glossy, large-scale productions, with past hits including surveys of acclaimed South African photographer Zanele Muholi and the politically charged work of American photographer Andres Serrano, famed for his work on human corpses and religious symbols. Each month, Fotografiska gives out a thousand free museum passes to people who do not usually have easy access to art and culture.

On Djurgården island, Sven-Harrys Konstmuseum offers a more intimate viewing experience behind its sleek gold facade. The private museum labels itself as a home for both art and people. Its building accommodates the gallery and museum shop alongside apartments and businesses, with a replica of founder Sven-Harry Karlsson’s former home on the rooftop. Inside, visitors can see one of Sweden’s largest private collections, accumulated over 35 years, with paintings by Carl Fredrik Hill, Helene Schjerfbeck, Ylva Snöfrid, and Dan Wolgers in a domestic setting, surrounded by furniture by Gio Ponti and Georg Haupt, and splendid carpets by Märta Måås-Fjetterström. The museum has held survey shows on both artists and fashion designers, including Azzedine Alaïa, and currently hosts a show dedicated to Swedish artist Dick Bengtsson (1936–1989), as well as the group exhibition ‘Where We Are’.

To the south of the city, Färgfabriken is situated in an otherwise derelict industrial complex by the water in Liljeholmen. A foundation with sleek exhibition spaces, distinguished by minimalist interiors, Färgfabriken positions itself at the intersection of art, architecture, and social research. Since opening in the 1990s, it has hosted everything from video art retrospectives and performances to transdisciplinary symposia on urbanism, and even flea markets. In autumn 2020, the artist group Gylleboverket installed a site-specific work at Färgfabriken titled ‘Symbiosis’, which sparked a cross-disciplinary dialogue amongst researchers, artists and architects to explore the theme in their own practice and later culminated in a second exhibition in autumn 2021, showcasing diverse interpretations of symbiosis. Färgfabriken is a vital space in Sweden’s capital for ongoing, interdisciplinary discussion and exchange.

Close to the ABBA museum on Djurgården, Liljevalchs is a monumental building and one of Sweden’s oldest public art spaces. Each year, the venue draws crowds with its much-loved ‘Vårsalongen’, or ‘Spring Salon’, an annual juried exhibition that is open to anyone over 18 and culminates in a salon-style exhibition. Liljevalchs has increasingly shown highly regarded retrospectives, with a recent exhibition by the iconic Swedish painter Mamma Andersson. For Stockholm Art Week, it becomes the venue for the local Market Art Fair.

Across the bay, the privately funded Artipelag is hidden away among the pine trees and sits by serene still water on the island of Värmdö. The building was designed to seamlessly blend into its natural surroundings by the late architect Johan Nyrén. Visitors come to the museum for a brief escape from the bustling city center, and stay to visit exhibitions like ‘Signature Women’, a 2020 survey show of work created by female artists in Sweden over the last century, or a photography exhibition exploring land and water in 2015 through the work of Danish sculptor Olafur Eliasson and German artist Andreas Gursky. Currently, the space houses a retrospective dedicated to the work of Swedish fashion designer Lars Wallin.

Last but not least, Stockholm is also home to several commercial galleries. Andréhn-Schiptjenko was established in 1991 and has played a key role in bringing Swedish artists to the global stage, with a roster that includes artists Cajsa von Zeipel and Annika Elisabeth von Hausswolff. Their second location in Paris has deepened the connection between Stockholm and the European art scene. Another gallery with international recognition is Galerie Nordenhake, with locations in Stockholm, Berlin, and Mexico City. It regularly participates in Art Basel and features a strong roster of both Nordic and international artists including Sophie Reinhold, Christian Andersson, Elena Damiani, and Lap-See Lam.