Millesgården

Millesgården, situated on an island only minutes away from central Stockholm, was named after the famous sculptor Carl Milles, who lived here with his wife Olga.

They acquired the land in 1906, and two years later, the villa was completed.

A few decades later, they bought the neighbouring plots and could thus expand the terraced sculpture garden into the large, labyrinth-like experience it is today, filled with hidden nooks and large artworks.

In 1936, it was donated as a gift to the Swedish people.

Milles is famous for his many sculptures, commissioned by institutions around the world, often created with inspiration from the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome.

For fifty years, he worked at developing Millesgården, today widely considered the most important artwork of his life.

To visit the sculpture park, regardless of season, is to catch a glimpse of the artist’s rich phantasmagorical landscape. Inside the couple’s mansion, the floors are full of beautiful mosaics, while the pink one-story building called Anne’s villa, built to house Milles’ private secretary Anne Hedmark and decorated by Estrid Ericson and Josef Frank, offers a completely different, more informal and relaxed atmosphere.

Olga Milles, born in Austria, was a painter and sculptor in her own right. In the meeting between the Austrian Olga and the Swedish Carl, two cultures and aesthetic traditions intersected and merged.

Consequently, a part of the garden is called “Little Austria”, which is also where the two were buried, in a wood chapel designed to emulate the type of road chapel common in Austria and southern Germany.

It’is often said that life has a way of imitating art. This is true also for this place, as inspiration for the chapel was found in Moritz von Schwind’s painting “Die Waldkapelle”.

The restaurant at Millesgården is not to be missed. And in the art hall, which houses various exhibitions all year round and is placed at the entrance to the garden, there is a small shop where one can buy miniature versions of Milles’ most famous works, including the iconic “The Hand of God”.

Millesgården

Lidingö, Sweden