The Hand of God
Milles's best-known work atop a tall column.
Holger Ellgaard — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Holger Ellgaard — CC BY-SA 3.0 · AleWi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bengt Nyman — CC BY 3.0
Milles wanted to free the form from gravity visually: on a low plinth bronze reads against trees and ground and looks heavy and settled, but lifted above eye level the sky becomes its only backdrop and it suggests flight — an idea he repeated in his major American works on the same logic.
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Millesgarden is the house, garden and studio that the Swedish sculptor Carl Milles built for himself on a rocky bluff on Lidingo island, then gave to the state in 1936 to become a museum. Milles was Sweden's most famous twentieth-century sculptor and worked for many years in the United States; his garden here is the best place to see his work gathered together. What makes the place exceptional is the garden's design: stepped stone terraces descending toward the water, with sculptures mounted on very tall columns so they appear against the sky and the bay rather than against the ground — a deliberate decision that leaves the bronze forms looking suspended in air, light despite their mass. The best known are The Hand of God and Poseidon. The house itself is preserved with its furnishings and Milles's collection of classical antiquities, and the studio with its tools. It lies about twenty minutes outside the centre (metro then bus), and a visit is far quieter than the city museums — with the bay-view cafe a genuine part of the experience.
Milles's best-known work atop a tall column.
A stepped garden descending to Lidingo bay.
Herserudsvagen 32, 181 50 Lidingo