The Unseen Light: Exploring the Revolutionary Art of Hanna Hirsch-Pauli

Hanna Hirsch Pauli: The Art of Being Free — A Story for Our Time 🎨

I'm thrilled to share some thoughts on an exhibition that truly speaks to me, and I believe, to our contemporary conversations about identity, freedom, and the power of the untold narrative. The current exhibition at Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, Hanna Hirsch Pauli: The Art of Being Free, finally gives one of the most significant figures in Nordic art her comprehensive due.1 She's often described as the "most famous unknown" painter, and this exhibition is a vital step in changing that.

🏛️ Exhibition "The Art of Being Free" Now

This is the first comprehensive monographic exhibition dedicated to Hanna Hirsch Pauli, featuring over 120 works that span six decades of her artistic life.3 Based on extensive new research and archival discoveries—including the artist’s own correspondence—the exhibit offers an intimate portrait, showing her not just as an artist, but as a person who grappled with the major issues of her time: love, feminism, and Jewish identity.

🇸🇪 A Pioneer in Swedish Art and the Opponent Movement

Hanna Hirsch Pauli (1864–1940) was a radical pioneer in the Swedish art scene of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She emerged during a period of intense artistic and social change, notably as a member of the Opponent Movement (Opponentrörelsen). This group, including figures like Ernst Josephson and Richard Bergh, actively challenged the rigid, traditional teaching methods and exhibition policies of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

Hirsch Pauli's early work was considered stylistically innovative and daring in both its subject matter and execution.5 Her break from academic tradition helped lay the groundwork for the modern movements in Sweden, pushing for a more naturalistic and individual expression. By placing her right at the centre of this cultural shift, the exhibition highlights her critical role in defining the direction of Swedish art.6

✨ Challenging Conventions: The Portrait as a Force for Change

What makes her art so fascinating is her unique style of portraiture, which transcends simple realism. Her portraits are deeply psychological and unconventional, capturing a profound sense of presence and immediacy.

• Radical Realism: Take her iconic portrait of fellow artist Venny Soldan-Brofeldt (1887).7 Instead of depicting a respectable bourgeois woman in formal attire, Hanna shows her friend seated on the floor in her studio, hands covered in clay—an informal, raw, and unapologetically professional pose. At the time, this was seen as shocking, even "indecent," as it defied all prevailing ideals of femininity and class. It was a potent, early depiction of "den Nya Kvinnan" (the New Woman).

• The Power of Connection: Her work Frukostdags (Breakfast Time, 1887) and the large-scale group portrait, Vänner (Friends, 1900-1907), are intimate yet expansive.8 Vänner depicts the cultural elite of Stockholm, yet its informal setting and arrangement of close-knit figures symbolise the strength and power of community and intellectual friendship, with Hanna placing herself as the quiet observer/artist at the edge of the scene.

Through her unique approach, Hirsch Pauli focused on humanism, capturing the complexities and inner lives of her subjects, especially her female contemporaries, with honesty and an enduring sense of grace.

👩‍🎨 Choosing the Artist's Path: Feminism and Freedom

Hanna Hirsch Pauli's life itself was a powerful statement on feminism and personal liberty in a time when a professional career was often deemed irreconcilable with marriage for women.

She intentionally chose her husband, the artist Georg Pauli, a relationship that guaranteed her the freedom to continue painting. In a letter to him, she once wrote, "only with freedom can I thrive with someone." Despite raising three children and managing a busy social life, she never gave up her professional identity, proving that it was possible to maintain an active, intense artistic career. This courageous balancing act is a testament to her strong-willed personality and unwavering commitment to her art.

The Critical Relationship with Ellen Key

One of the most important relationships in her life was with the philosopher and feminist writer Ellen Key. Key, a towering cultural figure who advocated for the political rights of women and the importance of motherhood and home as a societal force, was a mentor to Hanna and her friends. Key is prominently featured in Vänner, reading in the centre of the group, underscoring the intellectual and reformist core of their circle. Their friendship illustrates how artists and intellectuals worked together to push the boundaries of societal roles and advocate for a new era—one that Key famously called "The Century of the Child" and which equally ushered in a new century for the liberated woman and artist.

💫 An Influence that Endures

Hanna Hirsch Pauli's legacy is immense. Her work, especially her bold, psychological portraits, has been an unspoken influence on subsequent generations of artists. By capturing individuals in their genuine professional and domestic settings, she validated a new kind of subject matter and technique, inspiring future artists to embrace intimacy, realism, and personal expression in their work.

The exhibition, enriched by sensational archival finds of her extensive correspondence and sketches, allows us to hear the artist's own voice and understand her reflections on big issues like life, friendship, the role of women, and even anti-Semitism.9 She was a charismatic, headstrong, and determined artist who, in the words of the exhibition, truly mastered "The Art of Being Free."

Exhibition: Hanna Hirsch Pauli: The Art of Being Free
Venue: Nationalmuseum, Södra Blasieholmshamnen 2, Stockholm
Duration: The exhibition runs until January 11, 2026.

General Opening Hours
Monday: Closed
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 11:00–17:00
Thursday: 11:00–20:00
Admission (Adults)SEK 160. Free for visitors under 20.
Free Admission: Admission is free for all visitors on Thursday evenings 17:00–20:00.

Website Link
Nationalmuseum Stockholm

An illustrated story by Joanna Rubin Dranger about Hanna Hirsch Pauli by