Three Passports

Greek bowl with a medallion depicting Dionysos and Ariadne on the left, and Silenos on the right

ca. 100 BCE

Carl XVI Gustaf with family by John-Erik Franzén (oil on canvas, 220 cm x 256 cm, dated 1984-85)

In the mid-1980s, the artist John-Erik Franzén was commissioned to portray the Royal Family for the portrait collection at Gripsholm Castle. The National Museum suggested Franzén after Gripsholm Castle commissioned the portrait. The Royal Family had seen Franzén's depiction of his son from 1981 and agreed to the National Museum's proposal.

The huge portrait was shown in the autumn of 1985 and caused a great stir. Criticism of the painting came from several quarters. Journalist and art critic Mats Arvidsson calls the painting one of the strangest he has seen in his entire life and says it is "full of painting technical errors".

Arvidsson exemplifies how the then seven-year-old Crown Princess Victoria is portrayed: "Little Victoria looks like she has been run over and stuck together wrongly in some emergency department."

John-Eric Franzén disagrees. He thinks the Victoria part of the large portrait was among the more successful parts: "I think she is the best part in the whole painting. It's funny when you get good characters - then people complain."

Though, Franzén says the Royal Family wanted him to repaint the part of the portrait that showed Victoria: "The Queen did not like that [Victoria] was so cocky. She wanted me to change it, but I didn't. Then you destroy the whole painting."

International Tiara Day Event 2026

DAY ONE - 20 May 2026: All-time favourite tiara: Empress Josephine’s Cameo Tiara

“The magnificent, unusual tiara, which is made of gold and set with pearls and intricate cameos, is believed to have been a gift from Napoleon to Josephine in 1809. The cameos were carved by some of Napoleon's favorite artisans, and they depict scenes from Greco-Roman mythology.”

“The tiara was passed down through Empress Josephine's descendants, arriving in Stockholm with her granddaughter, Queen Josefina. It's been owned by members of the Swedish royal family ever since, and it's now the personal property of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.”