When Elsa Beskow created her watercolours she dipped her brush in a glass of water. In the midst of her everyday duties, without fuss, her pictorial magic took shape. With love towards the smallest insect and leaf that nature could offer she viewed the world with the child’s own inner vision.

In the spring and summer of 2009, The Nordic Watercolour Museum invites visitors to enjoy a grand pictorial celebration. The museum galleries will be filled with hundreds of original pictures from eighteen of Elsa Beskow’s best loved picture books. This is a unique opportunity to experience the freshly preserved colours of the original paintings and to rediscover the tales they tell. Throughout the museum there are discoveries to be made by all members of the family – a reading corner, for instance, nestling among the animals of the forest or a picture workshop that has moved into the home of Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender.

Elsa Beskow published her first picture book, The Tale of the Little, Little Old Woman (“Sagan om den lilla lilla gumman”), in 1887. She was 23 years old when it went to print. She went on to create picture books right up until her death in 1953.

Today, Elsa Beskow is considered a classic. Books such as Peter in Blueberry Land (“Puttes äventyr i blåbärsskogen”), The Flowers’ Festival (“Blomsterfesten i täppan”), Ollie’s Ski Trip (“Olles skidfärd”), The Sun Egg (“Solägget”), and all the adventures of Petter and Lotta with Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender (“Tant Grön, Tant Brun och Tant Gredelin”) have been read by many generations – and new ones are still discovering them. But is it merely parents’ nostalgia that keeps her stories alive, or do Elsa Beskow’s picture books still speak to children today?

In this exhibition we want to view her classic imagery through contemporary eyes. The aim is to create an exhibition that appeals to both children and adults, filling the museum with activities and encounters that bridge the generations.

Elsa Beskow created her books in the midst of everyday family life, together with her husband Natanael Beskow – artist, preacher and head of Birkagården – and their six sons. It is a story that reflects her life and offers insights into Sweden’s twentieth-century history.

With the exhibition on Elsa Beskow’s world of images, The Nordic Watercolour Museum continues its focus on the picture book as an art form, a venture that began with the exhibition The Picture, the Child, the Tale, December 2007–March 2008). The show presented 20 contemporary Nordic and international picture book artists in an exhibition which, together with lectures, seminars and activities, laid the foundation for continued exploration and deeper engagement.

”Getting ideas is as easy as picking flowers. But dealing with them properly and having them ready in time – that’s the difficult part.”

– Elsa Beskow

Elsa Beskow

Pictures from the exhibition