Almost there points to the gap that exists between now and then. So much is different, but also the same. We think we understand history and yet we don’t. Therefore, Maria Friberg’s interaction with the collection becomes a matter of taking turns: her art offers new perspectives on the gallery’s artwork, but also provides an in-depth view of various themes in her own artistry.
Maria Friberg is an obvious choice for Thielska Galleriet. In a collection dominated by male artists and portraits of men, it is important, like Friberg, to look away. In her art, men often assume traditionally female poses; they are passive, vulnerable, lost and beautiful to look at. The opposite relationship between male and female is questioned.
The ability to portray the man in a different way; beyond power, control and assertiveness, strikes an interesting note in the history of the museum. The ambivalence that Maria Friberg shows in the traditional male role was also characteristic of the banker and financier Ernest Thiel, one of Sweden’s richest men at the beginning of the 20th century. Thiel was unwilling to assume the bourgeois male role of his time. He sought liberation and intellectual stimulation, wanting not only to be a bank manager but also to write poetry and create a haven for art and artists.
Almost there , this searching and uncertain, fluid state takes as a point of departure, when something is changing and the goal is almost reached. The exhibition thus puts both the collection and the collector in a new light and asks questions about the then and contemporary conceptions of masculinity. Another theme that is touched on is man’s relationship with and uncertainty about nature. The Thiel couple’s collection contains many paintings with atmospheric landscape and forest motifs with water as a prominent element, something that has also interested Maria Friberg in her investigation of simple dichotomies such as nature/culture.
In addition, the arrows at Djurgården play a special role for both Maria Friberg and the Thielska Galleriet. Welcome to discover this and other exciting connections and differences in this autumn’s large exhibition Nästän där .
