Culture of Sweden
[4] Swedish Vikings are known especially for founding the Kievan state, becoming powerful as well as established in the area with considerable eventual impact on the history of eastern Europe.
King Gustav I had successfully wrested the throne from Christian II of Denmark and promoted a national church headed by himself.
In the following century, Sweden would appear as a champion of the Protestant cause, while also acquiring new lands and plundering foreign cultural riches during the Thirty Years War.
Queen Louisa Ulrika and her son King Gustav III were important patrons of the arts, both founding academies that are still active.
This and improvements in agriculture and sanitation led to a high population growth; during the latter half of the 19th century, emigration increased.
When increased opportunity and international trade arrived in the 20th century, along with better education of the masses, Sweden went from a poor country to one of the richest.
Sweden boasts many internationally known actors and actresses, including Maud Adams, Malin Åkerman, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Bergman, Britt Ekland, Greta Garbo, Signe Hasso, Dolph Lundgren, Helena Mattsson, Michael Nyqvist, Lena Olin, Ann-Margret Olsson, Mikael Persbrandt, Rebecca Ferguson, Noomi Rapace, Stellan Skarsgård and sons Alexander, Gustaf, and Bill, Peter Stormare, Ingrid Thulin, Alicia Vikander, and Max von Sydow.
There are many internationally notable Swedish classical composers, including Joseph Martin Kraus, Johan Helmich Roman, Wilhelm Stenhammar, Kurt Atterberg, Lars-Erik Larsson and Franz Berwald.
Notable Swedish indie bands and artists include Jens Lekman, The Knife, Love Is All, The Concretes, Broder Daniel, The Tough Alliance, Peter, Bjorn and John, Little Dragon, El Perro del Mar, Maia Hirasawa, Fever Ray, Popsicle (band), Studio, The Embassy, The Honeydrips, Brainpool, Air France, jj, Joel Alme and Pacific!.
In contrast to its large pop music output, Sweden boasts a very prolific death metal scene.
Many bands from there, such as In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates, The Haunted, as well as Stockholm's Amon Amarth and Opeth, have seen increased commercial success in Europe and the USA.
The nation is well known in the extreme metal community for its late 1980s to early 1990s death metal scene, spawning bands like Entombed, as well as more obscure, brutal bands like Repugnant and Treblinka (later called Tiamat), and especially now for Meshuggah (formed in 1987 alongside the aforementioned, but most recognized for works from 2000 thru today) and Vildhjarta.
Vildhjarta, a much younger group, has found greater popularity for a much more aggressive sound, marked by a mix of the low, open-string tones.
Djent is known for with use of the highest frets on the guitar, which significantly shorten the vibrating segment of the string and thus produces a very different tone, especially when overdriven.
Some are only famous on the domestic Swedish music scene, such as Kent, Håkan Hellström, Veronica Maggio, and Lars Winnerbäck.
Like the rest of Scandinavia and Iceland, Sweden had important literature during the Viking Age; this was chiefly consisted of Old Norse poetry.
Other Swedish authors known around the world include August Strindberg, Astrid Lindgren, best known for several children's book series, and Selma Lagerlöf.
Swedish contemporary detective works belong to the popular Nordic noir sub-genre, the most famous of them being The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo from Stieg Larsson.
Sverigedräkten [sv], designed by Märta Jörgensen,[21] mainly in blue and yellow, has been the established National Costume since 2004 (the first since the 18th-century Nationella dräkten) and is thus worn by royal women on some official occasions.
A new breed of smaller Swedish fashion labels like Odd Molly, WESC, Hope, Nakkna, Velour, Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, Cheap Monday and Nudie Jeans are emerging and being recognized internationally.
Beyond the founding of the notable Swedish royal art collection, both foreign and domestic painters established themselves internationally with portraits for the wealthy nobility and monarchy.
[29] The eighteenth century further expanded the classical tradition in Sweden, with leading painters like Alexander Roslin having a strong role within European art.
