For their first Slow Art Day, the Nordiska Akvarellmuseet in Sweden hosted a reflective slow looking session featuring works by Swedish artist Claes Hake in the exhibition “HAKE / Retrospective 1962–2024.”
The session was led by museum art educator Renée Tan, who designed the experience to emphasize quiet observation and personal reflection before introducing interpretation or historical context.
Participants began by sitting together in silence for 15 minutes in front of three paintings: My First Gold Painting, The Woods 2, and The Woods 1. Visitors were asked to turn off their mobile phones and simply observe the works without any prior explanation about the artist or the artworks.
After the silent viewing period, Renée Tan invited participants to share their impressions through guided questions. The conversation focused on participants’ sensory and emotional responses to the paintings, including the atmosphere of the space, the shapes and colors in the compositions, the materials and techniques used, and possible metaphorical interpretations that emerged during the slow looking process.
Following the discussion, the group continued with a guided walk through the rest of the exhibition. The tour concluded in front of the oldest artwork in the exhibition, created by Claes Hake when he was just 17 years old.
At this final stop, participants were invited to reflect on their own past. Renée asked them to think about a place connected to their youth and imagine themselves there again. Each participant then chose a feeling, object, or activity associated with that memory and wrote it down on small pieces of paper.
The papers were placed on the floor alongside slips containing the words “I remember.” As the participants’ reflections accumulated, the fragments formed a collective memory poem, connecting personal histories with the experience of looking at art.
Through silence, conversation, shared reflection, and poetry, the Slow Art Day session at Nordiska Akvarellmuseet demonstrated how slow looking can go beyond observation to open up space for memory, storytelling, and collective creativity.
We at Slow Art Day HQ are grateful to Renée Tan and the team at Nordiska Akvarellmuseet for creating such a thoughtful and participatory experience. We look forward to what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2026, which is coming up April 11, 2026.
— Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl
P.S. If you have not yet registered your museum of gallery for Slow Art Day 2026, please do.