Last year’s exhibition Ilon Wikland’s Visual World. Fairy tales, adventures and everyday life was a success with the public and showed over 400 original works in a playful environment. Now the association Forum for exhibitors has nominated the exhibition for the award Exhibition of the Year 2024. The award ceremony will take place at the Museums’ Spring Meeting in Jönköping 8-10 April.
The motivation reads:
A rare well-crafted collaboration between original objects and exhibition form – a shining example of how the exhibition medium can be used to both broaden and deepen. With a razor-sharp combination of heart and brain, “Ilon Wikland’s Visual World” highlights an artistry that is constantly from the children’s point of view.
– We are proud to have shown new, unexpected sides of Ilon Wikland’s artistry in her largest solo exhibition to date, where the child’s perspective was in focus. The nomination for Exhibition of the Year 2024 confirms how important shared images are in a society. The fact that a senior and a grandchild can grow up with the same children’s book images creates fantastic encounters that bridge generational boundaries, says Freja Holmberg, exhibition producer.
The work with Ilon Wikland’s Visual World. Fairy tales, adventures and everyday life involved a deep dive into a Swedish cultural treasure. Several of the works in the exhibition had never before been shown to the public. The exhibition was aimed at children as a specific target group, which influenced the hanging, texts and scenography.
– The exhibition was a fantastic success with the public and contributed to our record attendance at the Gothenburg Art Museum with over 260,000 visitors in 2024. Ilon Wikland is part of the Gothenburg Art Museum’s collection of children’s book illustrations, which is Sweden’s largest collection of its kind, and with this exhibition we also wanted to show that children’s book illustration is an art form in its own right, says Patrik Steorn, museum director.
The exhibition Ilon Wikland’s Visual World. Fairy Tales, Adventures and Everyday Life was shown at the Gothenburg Art Museum from May 25, 2024 to January 12, 2025, read more here. To see the museum’s current exhibitions, read more here.
Image from the exhibition Ilon Wikland’s Picture Worlds. Fairy Tales, Adventures and Everyday Life. Photo: Robert Lipic