I’m in Stockholm at the moment for a short work trip (heading back tomorrow actually). I had always heard great things about Stockholm and so far it has delivered! The weather is a bit warm for my tastes (yes I know this is ironic since I live in Texas) but other than that the people have been great, it’s a beautiful city, oh yeah and omg the metro station art.
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Stockholm Tunnelbana Art
The Stockholm metro system (known as the Tunnelbana) has around 110 stops and bills itself as “the world’s longest art gallery” because over 90 of the stations have been meticulously painted by artists! Most of the stations are carved out of rock and the natural ceiling is still in place but each station has a different theme.
I took my Sony a7rIII and two of my best lenses, the Canon 24mm tilt-shift and the Sony 12-24 G, as well as my Mefoto Globetrotter tripod. I was worried I would be hassled for using my tripod but nobody really cared. The metro system is busy during the morning and evening rush hours but during the day it was pretty empty, therefore it was easy to set up on my tripod without being in anyone’s way.
Back to the artwork: it’s really hard to explain to you so let’s just get right to the pictures! I’ll list the station name in case you want to go grab some pics yourself.
T-Centralen
The central station in Stockholm is T-Centralen. Go down to the blue line and you’ll see these amazing white and blue ceilings.
Tekniska högskolan
Going up the red line a few stops you’ll find this station (near the technical university from what I’m reading). There’s a chandelier of sorts and what looks like a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon-related illustration on the floor.
Stadion
The Stadion stop features an enormous rainbow across the ceiling between the two tracks. From what I understand this is very close to where the Stockholm Pride parade kicks off so it’s definitely on theme!
Solna Strand
This one features random “sky bricks” dotted around the platform and in the ceiling, making for a really nice juxtaposition since you’re so far under the earth. This one took the longest for people to get out of my shot!
Huvudsta
This station had a really cool inlay design in the floor with a randomly green ceiling in parts of it.
Kungsträdgården
This is probably the most well-known station, the art is incredibly abstract and it’s actually also an archaeological site (remains of I believe a 17th century palace were found nearby).
Solna Centrum
This was the stop I had been waiting for. This is an incredibly popular stop for photographers due to the incredibly vivid reds on the ceiling. Offsetting the stark red is a sea of green at the bottom representing the grass and fields of Sweden. Here’s an example of what I mean:
This picture is one I wanted to take for a long time. Yes yes I know millions of other photographers have taken this exact picture but this is my interpretation of it. I’m still not sure what to call it, “Escalators Into Hell” sounds more like a heavy metal band so it didn’t really fit. I mean, the name of this blog is Andy’s Travel Blog so you should be used to the lack of original namesOK FINE I’LL SHOW YOU THE PICTURE!
Here’s the thing though: I barely scratched the surface! I can’t wait to come back to Stockholm to take a tour of all the artwork (which the city offers!). I went to I think 8 stations, which means I missed 82 other installations! Ceilings in all manner of colors, thematic elements throughout, it’s just a really special way that Stockholm has endeared itself to me.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures! Which one was your favorite?
