Nationalmuseum, Stockholm

Sweden's Nationalmuseum ranks among Europe's oldest public museums, founded in 1792 as the Royal Museum in memory of King Gustav III. The king had opened parts of the royal collections to visitors as early as the 1780s and established both a Picture Gallery and Museum of Antiquities at Stockholm Castle. His assassination in 1792 prompted the consolidation of these collections into the Royal Museum. Queen Lovisa Ulrika's 18th-century French paintings, surrendered to settle debts in 1777, form a particularly strong part of the holdings.

The current building on Blasieholmen peninsula opened in 1866, designed by German architect Friedrich August Stüler in northern Italian Renaissance style. Renoir's early The Inn of Mother Anthony and Boucher's Triumph of Venus represent the French holdings. Swedish masters Anders Zorn and Carl Larsson have dedicated galleries. The 18th-century French collection, built from Queen Lovisa Ulrika's acquisitions and ambassador Carl Gustaf Tessin's 2,000 master drawings from Paris, is considered one of the finest outside France. The museum reopened in 2018 after major renovation, doubling visitor capacity and tripling the works on display.