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Architectural style · c. 1730–1775 in Sweden

Rococo

Rokoko

Playful, asymmetrical and pastel. Rococo moves indoors – it shows mostly in salons, furniture and garden pavilions.

How to spot it Find it in the app

The style in timeDrag to travel in time

  1. Zigguratc. 2200–500 BC
  2. Ancient Greek architecturec. 700–30 BC
  3. Roman architecturec. 500 BC–AD 400
  4. Nabataean architecturec. 300 BC–AD 106
  5. Byzantine architecturec. 330–1453 in the Eastern Roman Empire
  6. Moorish architecture8th–15th century in al-Andalus and North Africa
  7. Carolingian architecturec. 780–900 in the Frankish Empire
  8. Novgorod and Pskovc. 1045–1600 in north-western Russia
  9. Norman architecturec. 1050–1200
  10. Romanesquec. 1050–1250
  11. Mudéjarc. 1100–1600
  12. Gothicc. 1235–1530
  13. Brick Gothicc. 1250–1530
  14. Late Gothicc. 1400–1530
  15. Manuelinec. 1490–1530
  16. Renaissancec. 1520–1650
  17. Palladian architecturec. 1550–1800
  18. Dutch Renaissancec. 1560–1650 in the Netherlands and Flanders
  19. Baroquec. 1640–1730
  20. Carolean Baroquec. 1680–1720
  21. Georgian architecture1714–1830
  22. Rocococ. 1730–1775
  23. Neoclassicismc. 1750–1850
  24. Gustavianc. 1772–1810
  25. Karl Johan stylec. 1810–1850
  26. Victorian architecture1837–1901
  27. Gothic Revivalc. 1840–1910
  28. Historicismc. 1840–1900
  29. Industrial architecturec. 1850–1950
  30. Neo-Renaissancec. 1850–1900
  31. Swiss chalet stylec. 1850–1900
  32. Landshövdingehus1875–1945
  33. Neo-Baroquec. 1880–1910
  34. Beaux-Artsc. 1830–1920
  35. National Romanticismc. 1890–1920
  36. Art Nouveauc. 1896–1914
  37. Art Decoc. 1910–1940
  38. 1910s Neoclassicismc. 1910–1920
  39. Bauhaus1919–1933
  40. Swedish Gracec. 1920–1930
  41. Functionalismc. 1930–1950
  42. Socialist classicismc. 1933–1955
  43. Post-war Swedish modernismc. 1940–1960
  44. Brutalismc. 1950–1975
  45. The Record Yearsc. 1955–1975
  46. The Million Programme1965–1974
  47. DeconstructivismFrom the 1980s
  48. Postmodernismc. 1980–1995
  49. LonghouseStone Age to Viking Age
  50. Log houseThe Middle Ages onwards
  51. Raised storehouseIron Age to 20th century
  52. Swedish vernacularc. 1600–1900
  53. Croft and cottagec. 1700–1900
  54. Decorated farmhouses of Hälsinglandc. 1700–1900
  55. Half-timberingThe Middle Ages to the 19th century
  56. Sámi goahtiFrom prehistory to the present day
  57. Seljuk architecturec. 1040–1300
  58. Persian architectureIran
  59. British Colonialc. 1700–1950 in the British Empire

01. Shells, scrolls and chinoiserie

In France it is called le goût nouveau – the new taste. The name comes from rocaille, the shell form that turns up everywhere. Straight lines become soft curves, right angles are rounded off, and nothing has to match on both sides.

The style reaches Sweden through the palace building site. Tessin the Younger dies in 1728, and Carl Hårleman takes over Stockholm Palace. He keeps Tessin's façades and room layout – but inside the rooms the new fashion is given free rein. Through the 1730s and 1740s the palace fills with carving, curving chairs and floral tendrils. In 1735 an academy of drawing opens in the palace, with the Frenchman Guillaume Thomas Taraval as its first teacher.

Swedish Rococo still stays restrained. The façades are calm. The richness is inside.

Then comes China. The Swedish East India Company is founded in 1731, and the ships come home with porcelain, silk and lacquer. The exotic becomes the height of fashion. The pastels are joined by black and lacquer red, and cabinetmakers such as Nils Dahlin learn Chinese lacquer techniques.

Drottningholm, summer 1753. King Adolf Fredrik gives Queen Lovisa Ulrika a Chinese-style pavilion as a birthday present – prefabricated and quickly put up. Ten years later rot has taken it. In 1763 the foundation stone is laid for a new Chinese Pavilion, to designs by Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz. It becomes a European Rococo building with Chinese allusions – and today one of the most authentic examples of 18th-century European chinoiserie.

02. How to spot it

  • 1.Asymmetrical, curving ornament – rocaille
  • 2.Pastel colours, often alongside black and lacquer red
  • 3.Chinoiserie and exotic motifs
  • 4.S-shaped furniture legs
  • 5.Calmer façades – the richness is inside

03. The giveaway

The asymmetry. An ornament that is not the same on both sides is Rococo – no other style dares to break symmetry like that.

Read the façade

  1. The rocaille – the shell ornament
  2. S-shaped scrolls

04. Architects and builders

  • Carl Hårleman
  • Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz

05. Where to see it

  • The Chinese Pavilion, Drottningholmpresent building begun 1763
  • The interiors of Stockholm PalaceCarl Hårleman, 1730s and 1740s
  • Drottningholm Palace

06. Often confused with

Gustavian. Rococo curves and is asymmetrical; the Gustavian style is straight, symmetrical and inspired by antiquity.

Neo-Rococo. The 19th-century revival, mostly in salons and cafés – see Historicism.

Sources

  • The Royal Palaces: "A history of style – Rococo"
  • The Royal Palaces: "The Chinese Pavilion – history"
  • The Royal Palaces: "Carl Hårleman 1700–1753"
  • Church of Sweden, Folkungabygden parish: "Stilar och epoker"

Text: Pontus Bovin · Last updated 9 November 2026

Rococo around the corner

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