What's on in Stockholm
Vilhelm Hammershøi, Five Portraits (1902)

Thiel Gallery (Thielska galleriet) · Djurgården

Descendant. Curated by Lars von Trier

Now showing10 October 2026 – 24 January 2027·kr 160

Lars von Trier gathers the Nordic "family" behind his films: Hammershøi's Five Portraits, Munch, Strindberg, Hill, Willumsen and more. Made with the Willumsen Museum.

Book tickets

Five older men in dark clothes sit stiffly around a table in Vilhelm Hammershøi's Five Portraits, and Lars von Trier reads that table as a coffin. At 19 he travelled to Stockholm just to see the painting here. This summer it was lent out for the first time, to the show's first stop in Denmark, and now it is back home at the centre of it.

Around it Trier hangs the Nordic artists he calls the "family" whose shoulders he stands on: Munch, Strindberg, Carl Fredrik Hill, Willumsen, Per Kirkeby and more, plus his own 1975 self-portrait. Trier wrote the texts that link the works, and Femina's critic said reading them felt like having him beside you, whispering in your ear.

In Frederikssund, Femina and Kristeligt Dagblad both gave it six stars out of six; Ekko's critic wished for more space around the works. Entry is included in the 160 SEK admission, free under 19, and Thursdays run until 20:00 through October.

Editor's pick

Lars von Trier came to Stockholm at 19 to see Hammershøi's Five Portraits, stern men round a table he reads as a coffin. Around it hang Munch and Strindberg. Two Danish critics gave it six out of six.

Look for

  • Hammershøi's Five Portraits

    Five older artists, Willumsen among them, stare sternly out from a dark table that Trier sees as a coffin; it is the painting he crossed to Stockholm for at 19.

  • Trier's self-portrait On the Way to Zarathustra

    A large 1975 self-portrait he sent with his application to the Danish art academy, which turned him down; he now says he understands why "pretentious Lars" didn't get in.

  • Agnes Trier's exhibition film

    Trier, now 70, talks openly with his daughter about how he wanted to be a painter when he was young.

Good for

  • Going Solo
  • Nerding Out

Skip if

You came for Trier's films: this is mostly Nordic painting from around 1900, chosen by him.

With kids

Under-19s get in free. The museum has no lift and the main entrance has steps, so plan ahead with a pushchair.

Also at Thiel Gallery (Thielska galleriet)

On now nearby

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