Image and sculpture in Berwaldhallen

The brutalist building of Berwaldhallen is in itself an architectural work of art, and the concert hall is constantly hosting high-level musical art. But there is also exciting art to discover in the foyers, from Carl Eldh's iconic bust of Franz Berwald to Hans Viksten's imaginative murals.

As soon as you enter the building, you are greeted by art in the form of Carl Eldh's portrait bust from 1911 of the composer Franz Berwald (1796–1868), who gave the building its name. Carl Eldh was one of the most sought-after sculptors in Sweden during the first part of the 20th century and has also made famous portraits of, among others, August Strindberg. The plaque by the bust states that it has been on loan from the Royal Theatre since 1979, the year Berwaldhallen was inaugurated.

In the foyers, a series of murals run on all floors. They are components of a single work of art called Musikmagi (Music magic), created by the artist Hans Viksten. After trying a lot of different professions, Viksten decided at the age of 32 to become an artist, and after studying at Gerleborg School and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, he worked in art until his death in 1987. Viksten came to be called the fantasy painter, and he really lives up to that name in Musikmagi, where most things have a double meaning that brings the imagination to life.  

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  The artists in Berwaldhallen

  Carl Eldh (1873–1954)

  Hertha Hillfon (1921–2013)

  Sigrid Hjertén (1885–1948)

  Petr Mandl (1947–)

  Hans Viksten (1926–1987)

The dress circle foyer

In the dress circle foyer, Musikmagi features the main groups of instruments in a symphony orchestra. The woodwinds are represented by a clarinet blown by a seagull, which can be explained by the fact that Viksten thought that tuning a clarinet sounds exactly like a screaming seagull. The sequence is therefore called Måsart (Mås = seagull in Swedish. Måsart is also how we pronounce Mozart).

A French horn symbolizes the brass, next to a fisherman fishing for sheet music. Ludwig van Beethoven is depicted with his hair full of sheet music, and around his head are the first musical notes in his Symphony No. 5.

The strings are represented by a violin and a double bass carried by little people – or “life walkers” as they are called in Viksten’s art. The percussion group is represented by a bass drum, or grand cassa as it is also called, inside a score. Above, the conductor floats in the form of a bat. Hans Viksten himself and his wife Desy Kallberg can also be found in various places in the mural. 

The stalls and upper circle foyers

In the stalls foyer, Musikmagi continues with the theme of choir singing and recording. Here you will also find a life wanderer, who is carried through life by music. Lustgården (Eden) is the name of the wall hanging that hangs in the stalls foyer. It was created in 1912 by Sigrid Hjertén, one of the leading figures in Swedish modernism. Hjertén began her artistic career with textiles, but after studying with Henri Matisse in Paris during the 1910s, painting almost completely took over.

The first thing you encounter when you walk up the stairs to the upper circle is the work Vindens dotter (Daugther of the wind) by the Swedish ceramist and sculptor Hertha Hillfon, who was a pioneer in Swedish ceramic free sculpture. There is also a female head in terracotta by the Swedish-Czech artist Petr Mandl.

Viksten’s Musikmagi concludes in the upper circle foyer with a presentation of the different musical styles of jazz, pop and folk music. Jazz is personified by Louis Armstrong playing a golden trumpet and a bebop trumpeter standing on a pedestal of musical notes.

Pop music is symbolized by an electric guitar and a microphone (or is it a singer with fluttering hair?) and two speakers.

After pop music, a cadmium green section follows in, with Viksten’s own words, a “steamboat shape” with musical lines that become waves. In the middle of the waves are a male and a female life wanderer. According to Viksten himself, the section is supposed to describe a life crisis.

A buck blowing its own horn, folk dance, a midsummer pole, a wooden shoe fiddle and a pipe are depicted to embody folk music.

At the far end of the foyer, right at the entrance to the upper circle on the left, Musikmagi ends with a magical owl whose wings become long conductor’s arms. On the owl’s face is a portrait of Franz Berwald.

Text: Bodil Hasselgren (Translated by Anna Rickman)