Art in the open air
Oskarshamn Street Art
All over town, large-scale murals by international artists glow from the house walls – an open-air museum you discover as you stroll.
The most beautiful places in Småland
Oskarshamn
Where art lives out on the street – a harbor town on the Kalmarsund and gateway to Gotland.
Arriving
Oskarshamn is a town you can read on its walls.
Set right on the Kalmarsund, Oskarshamn is first and foremost a real harbor town: the ferry to Gotland leaves from here all year round, and in summer boats head out to the national park island of Blå Jungfrun. But what touches me most as an artist are the large murals all over town – the Oskarshamn Street Art project – and the famous woodcarver Döderhultarn. Plus the steep cobbled lanes of the old Besväret quarter. Art and sea, right next to each other.
Here I love to simply set off without a plan. Behind almost every corner a new picture waits on a wall, sometimes bright and colourful, sometimes quiet and thoughtful. Down at the harbour I sit on a bench, watch the ships leave and let the colours echo inside me. For me, Oskarshamn is not a place you tick off – it is one that sends you home full of new ideas.
Profile
In a nutshell
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Province
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Province
Kalmar län
On the east coast of Småland, right on the Kalmarsund.
Location
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Location
On the Kalmarsund
A harbor town opposite the island of Öland.
Town since
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Town since
1856
A town by the sea for around 170 years.
Known for
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Known for
Street Art
Large murals turn the whole town into a gallery.
Tip: Boats to the island of Blå Jungfrun only run in summer – check current times beforehand.
What you should see
Little favorite places
The art of woodcarving
Döderhultarmuseet
Axel Petersson, known as Döderhultarn, carved more than 200 wooden figures full of wit and life. For art lovers, a little miracle.
National park
Blå Jungfrun
The uninhabited granite dome out in the Kalmarsund. Oskarshamn is the only mainland harbor with a boat connection there – in summer with the M/S Solkust.
Old town
Besväret & Fnyket
The oldest quarters: steep cobbled lanes and little 19th-century wooden houses, with cozy cafés in between for a Fika.
Gateway to the islands
Harbor & ferries
From here the ferry runs year-round to Visby on Gotland, and in summer also across to Öland. The harbor is the lively heart of the town.
For art lovers ♥
A town that paints
A whole town that carries art outside – onto walls, into lanes, down to the water. As someone who paints myself, I feel understood here in a lovely way.
Impressions
Pictures from Oskarshamn
Here I share my very personal vacation photos – little moments from Oskarshamn, just as I captured them with my own camera.
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Why this place
In Oskarshamn, art doesn't hang behind glass – it stands in the middle of life, on house walls, in narrow lanes, at the harbor. That's exactly what I wish for my own art too: that it arrives outside, among people. This town reminds me why I paint.
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The journey continues
More places in Småland
Discover the other stops on my journey through the land I long for – place by place, with heart.
